TREATMENT RECEIVED BY UNDER FIVES HAVING FEVER BEFORE PRESENTING AT THE CHILDREN’S OUTPATIENT CLINIC OF A TERTIARY HEALTH FACILITY IN OWERRI, NIGERIA

Background: This study set to determine the source of and treatment received by under fives with fever before presenting at our children’s outpatient clinic and its implication for malaria control.Method: Mothers with children under five years of age presenting with complaints of fever between August and October 2002 were recruited and interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire.Results: Mothers of 213 patients consisting of 117 (54.9%) males and 96 (45.1%) females were interview3ed. All the patients had been given some sort of treatment before presenting at our clinic and majority of the treatment occurred outside health facilities. 137 (64.4%) were treated at home with drugs brought from either drug stores or Patient Medicine Vendors (PMVs), 38(17.8%) were treated by PMVs and 38(17.8%) at health facilities. The commonest drugs administered were analgesics, antimalarial drugs and antibiotics. Chloroquine was the most commonly administered antimalarial drug. There was a significant correlation between maternal educational status and source of treatment before presentation (Pearson correlation: 0.028) as well as between maternal educational status and duration of treatment before presentation (Pearson correlation: 0.017). While correlation between maternal age and duration of treatment before presentation was not significant, that between maternal age and source of treatment was. (Pearson correlation: 0.021) Conclusion: Since most treatment of fever which is presumptively taken to be malaria takes place outside health facilities, early appropriate and adequate management of non severe malaria can be achieved through training of Patient Medicine Vendors (PMVs) on the use of common and readily available and affordable antimalarial drugs. This is possible because training of shop keepers as a channel for information to the community while not only being feasible has been shown to have significant impact.