ABSTRACT
Recognising the need for everyone to sleep under a long-lasting insecticide-treated net (LLINs), th Roll-Back-Malaria (RBM) and African Heads of states, in April 2000, established the “Abuja targets,” which includes LLIN use by at least 60% of pregnant women and under-fives in Africa by 2005. These targets and those of the Millennium Development Goals to reduce malaria morbidity and mortality can only be achieved through high access rate of LLINs and insurance that people who receive the nets actually sleep under them on a regular basis. This study aimed to ascertain access and use of LLIN, as well as the effects of behavioural change on the use of LLIN among households in Enugu East Local Government Area (EELGA) of Enugu State, Nigeria. Questionnaire was administered to 17 households selected from each of the 24 communities in EELGA by a combination of purposive and snowball techniques. Results showed that access to LLIN was signficant (76%), but the use of LLIN was not significant (21.1%). About 72.8% of respondents agreed that habit had significant effect on use of LLIN among hoseholds in Enugu East Local Government Area of Enugu State of Nigeria. Apathy to government programmes (77.7%), fear of side-effects (82.1%), distortion of sleeping arrangements inside the home (80.1%), interference of nets with daily activities in non-bed sites (79.1%), apparent absence of mosquitoes (77.7%), and perceived net ineffectiveness (76.7%) were aspects of habit or behavioural change that affected the use of LLIN by households in EELGA of Enugu State, Nigeria. It was recommended that behaviour change should become the next issue to tackle in the efforts to roll malaria back in communities.
