[Antimalarial guidelines and therapy practices of the population of Bouake, Ivory Coast]

This survey of 162 households in the city of Bouaké, Côte d'Ivoire was undertaken to study the behavior of the population in diagnosing and treating malaria. Findings indicate that awareness of symptoms and ability to evaluate the severity of malaria is high. In most cases, mild malaria is treated at home. In case of presumptive diagnosis of malaria, 87.6% of households undertake self-treatment, 9.3% seek institutional healthcare, 1.2% go to traditional healers, and 1.9% use traditional remedies. The most frequent drug for primary treatment is chloroquine (68.3%) which is generally obtained from pharmacies (98.8%). However, proper dosages are rarely used. If primary treatment fails, behavior is complex depending on the estimated severity of disease. Although many causes of malaria are mentioned, most people implicate mosquitoes (75.6%). In 95.1% of households surveyed, chloroquine prophylaxis was used for newborns. Most households (89.5%) practice mosquito bite protection but use of mosquito nets is low (4.9%). These results showing the preference for family-based management suggest that informational campaigns are needed to promote effective and consistent home treatment. Education is also needed to increase knowledge about mosquito nets and insecticides.