Table 4.
Association of caregivers’ knowledge regarding schistosomiasis with infection status among themselves and their children
| Categorya | Childrenb | Child’s infection status | Caregivers | Caregiver’s infection status | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Infected | Uninfected | P-value | Total | Infected | Uninfected | P-value | |
| Had knowledge of schistosomiasis | 502 (93.8) | 69 (97.2) | 433 (93.3) | 0.208 | 304 (93.5) | 57 (18.8) | 247 (81.3) | 0.973 |
| Mother’s history of infection | ||||||||
| Had infection before | 251 (50.0) | 41 (59.4) | 210 (48.5) | 0.092 | 148 (48.7) | 24 (42.1) | 124 (50.2) | 0.270 |
| Caregivers indicating they are currently infected | ||||||||
| Yes | 152 (30.3) | 38 (55.1) | 114 (26.3) | < 0.001* | 96 (31.6) | 21 (36.8) | 75 (30.4) | 0.537 |
| No | 177 (35.3) | 13 (18.8) | 164 (37.9) | 102 (33.6) | 16 (28.1) | 86 (34.8) | ||
| I don’t know | 173 (34.5) | 18 (26.1) | 155 (35.8) | 106 (34.9) | 20 (35.1) | 86 (34.8) | ||
| Schistosomiasis symptoms | ||||||||
| Haematuria | 364 (72.5) | 52 (75.4) | 312 (72.1) | 0.568 | 217 (71.4) | 38 (66.7) | 179 (72.5) | 0.382 |
| Weight loss | 132 (26.3) | 15 (21.7) | 117 (27.0) | 0.355 | 73 (24.0) | 12 (21.1) | 61 (24.7) | 0.562 |
| General body weakness | 64 (12.8) | 6 (8.7) | 58 (13.4) | 0.277 | 40 (13.2) | 10 (17.5) | 30 (12.2) | 0.277 |
| Headache | 6 (1.2) | 1 (1.5) | 5 (1.2) | 0.834 | 5 (1.6) | 0 (0) | 5 (2.0) | 0.279 |
| Nausea | 43 (8.6) | 9 (13.0) | 34 (7.9) | 0.152 | 27 (8.9) | 7 (12.3) | 20 (8.1) | 0.317 |
| Dysuria | 45 (9.0) | 7 (10.1) | 38 (8.8) | 0.712 | 32 (10.5) | 8 (14.0) | 24 (9.7) | 0.338 |
| Poor school performance | 7 (1.4) | 1 (1.5) | 6 (1.4) | 0.967 | 5 (1.6) | 0 (0) | 5 (2.0) | 0.279 |
| Abdominal pain | 34 (6.8) | 7 (10.1) | 27 (6.2) | 0.230 | 24 (7.9) | 3 (5.3) | 21 (8.5) | 0.414 |
| Genital itchiness in women | 12 (2.4) | 2 (2.9) | 10 (2.3) | 0.768 | 8 (2.6) | 2 (3.5) | 6 (2.4) | 0.650 |
| Infertility | 7 (1.4) | 2 (2.9) | 5 (1.2) | 0.251 | 8 (2.6) | 1 (1.8) | 7 (2.8) | 0.646 |
| Recurrent illness | 11 (2.2) | 2 (2.9) | 9 (2.1) | 0.666 | 6 (2.0) | 1 (1.8) | 5 (2.0) | 0.895 |
| I don’t know | 21 (4.2) | 3 (4.4) | 18 (4.2) | 0.941 | 18 (5.9) | 2 (3.5) | 16 (6.5) | 0.392 |
| Can schistosomiasis be treated? (Yes) | 501 (99.8) | 69 (100) | 432 (99.8) | 0.689 | 303 (99.7) | 57 (100) | 246 (99.6) | 0.630 |
| Knowledge of Health Centre as a place for schistosomiasis treatment | 499 (99.4) | 68 (98.6) | 431 (99.5) | 0.323 | 301 (99.0) | 57 (100) | 244 (98.8) | 0.403 |
| Prevention and controlc | ||||||||
| Treatment using anti-schistosomal medicine | 139 (27.7) | 18 (26.1) | 121 (27.9) | 0.749 | 70 (23.0) | 13 (22.8) | 57 (23.1) | 0.965 |
| Avoiding contact with unprotected water bodies | 220 (43.8) | 25 (36.2) | 195 (45.0) | 0.171 | 135 (44.4) | 27 (47.4) | 108 (43.7) | 0.618 |
| Health education | 43 (8.6) | 10 (14.5) | 33 (7.6) | 0.059** | 32 (10.6) | 8 (14.0) | 24 (9.8) | 0.344 |
| Provision of WASHd facilities | 70 (14.0) | 9 (13.0) | 61 (14.1) | 0.811 | 54 (17.8) | 5 (8.8) | 49 (19.9) | 0.048* |
aFor the variables with a yes or no response, only the number (%) of the yes responses are documented
bChildren were not interviewed but they are described against their caregiver’s responses
cMore than one response was considered
dWater, sanitation and hygiene
*Significance level of 0.05; **Borderline significance of 0.05