•The 2022 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (2022 KDHS) released on Monday shows majority shun mosquito nests because of the hot weather
•Wajir, Marsabit, Garissa, Kitui and Mombasa have the highest number of respondents who said they had not used their net because the weather was too hot
Image: FILE
Kenyans have expressed various reasons why they don't use mosquito nets when they go to bed despite the dangers of getting infected with malaria.
The 2022 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (2022 KDHS) released on Monday shows majority shun mosquito nests because of the hot weather.
Some expressed reservations due to the net shape, colour, and/or size while others said they didn’t like the smell.
A small percentage believed the mosquito nets were a source of bedbugs while others failed to use the nets due to their inability to hang them.
From the report, out of the 54,417 nets in the households visited, 15,134 had not been used the night before the interview with a majority being in the rural areas.
Wajir, Marsabit, Garissa, Kitui and Mombasa have the highest number of respondents who said they had not used their net because the weather was too hot at 61, 45, 27, 24 and 18 per cent respectively.
According to the survey, 51 per cent of children under age five and 45 per cent of pregnant women slept under an Insecticide Treated Net (ITN) the night before the survey while 71 per cent of children under age 5 and 75 per cent of pregnant women in households with at least one ITN slept under an ITN the night before the survey.
“Pregnant women, especially those who are pregnant for the first time, are at an elevated risk for severe malaria in high malaria-risk regions due to their reduced immunity,” the report shows.
The use of ITNs by children under age 5 is higher in rural areas at 57 per cent compared to 40 per cent in urban areas.
The Ministry of Health has warned that children under age 5 are prone to severe malaria manifestations because they lack acquired immunity.
The 2022 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (2022 KDHS) was implemented by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) in collaboration with the Ministry of Health (MoH) and other stakeholders.
The data collection was done from February 17 to July 31, 2022.
The sample for the 2022 KDHS report was drawn from the Kenya Household Master Sample Frame (K-HMSF).
The sample size was computed at 42,300 households, with 25 households selected per cluster, which resulted in 1,692 clusters spread across the country, 1,026 clusters in rural areas, and 666 in urban areas.
The survey was done through a questionnaire where they used the household questionnaire, the woman’s questionnaire, the man’s questionnaire and the biomarker questionnaire.