MALARIA KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDES AND PRACTICES IN MALAWI - SURVEY POPULATION CHARACTERISTICS

A national knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) survey was conduct ed in March-April 1992 to examine malaria illness and the people's res ponse to illness and malaria prevention. Fifty-one households in each of 30 randomly selected communities were sampled and information was r ecorded from 1,531 households and 7,025 individuals. The population is characterized by low income (average household and per capita income were US $ 490 and $ 122, respectively) and low education levels (among adult women, 45 % had no formal education and only 3.9 % completed mo re than 8 years of schooling). Characteristics of the population were similar to those found in the 1987 national census, suggesting that th e survey population was representative of the larger population of Mal awi. Children under 5 years of age made up 15.8 % of the population an d had the highest rates of fever illness; these children experienced a n estimated 9.7 cases/year of fever illness consistent with malaria. A lthough adults reported fever less freguently, women of reproductive a ge experienced an estimated 6.9 episodes of fever annually. The burden of malaria morbidity in this population is extremely high and occurs in all age groups.