Household factors influencing the utilization of treated mosquito nets: the case of Sumbawanga Municipality, Tanzania

Insecticide-Treated Nets (ITNs) are the most powerful malaria control tool if used properly. Yet up to date, the utilization is unacceptably low. In Tanzania Mainland, only 45.1 percent of household members use ITNs while in Zanzibar only 45.4 percent of the population slept under ITNs. Worse still, malaria continues to be the leading cause of mortality and morbidity. The aim of this study was to investigate the household factors that influence the utilization of ITNs within households particularly in Sumbawanga Municipality. The study specifically first sought to identify the household practices that affect the use of ITNs among the household members; Second objective was to describe on the association between poverty and ITNs utilization. Thirdly, the study sought to evaluate intervention measures on ITNs utilization. The study involved 217 respondents both male and female who were the heads of the households from two wards namely; Ntendo and Kizwite. It used a cross sectional design in which both primary and secondary data were collected. Primary data were collected by using interview method while secondary data were obtained by documentary review. The collected data were entered in a Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16.0. Through SPSS, tables were established to present the frequencies of occurrence of a particular variable, cross tabulations were done to determine the relationship between one variable and another. Furthermore, charts and graphs were produced with the aid of SPSS The study findings show that first there were household factors that affected the utilization of ITNs in households which include; type of household structure, number of people sleeping in the household, sleeping arrangements, disruption of sleeping patterns due to visitors and cultural rituals and functions. These factors affect the consistency in utilization of ITNs. Secondly, poverty was seen to be associated with ITNs possession and utilization. The majority of the people being peasants, had insufficient income and therefore ITNs were not a priority to them given the level of poverty. Thirdly, the study findings show that, the majority of population are aware of ITNs and its benefits on reducing malaria infections. This study concluded that financial inadequacies at the household level is the major factor towards ITNs utilization since it tends to determine the house structure, number of sleeping beds, and number of ITNs within the household. Other household dynamics such as sleeping arrangements, sleeping disruption and supervision also had an impact negatively on effective utilization of ITNs among the household members. Therefore, it is recommended that; public-private partnership so as to innovate different strategies which would help the community members to generate more income which could help to have to have modern houses with enough rooms for all household members and also to afford enough nets for all household members.