Reproductive-Age Women’s Knowledge and Care Seeking for Malaria Prevention and Control in Ghana: Analysis of the 2016 Malaria Indicator Survey

Table 1

Index variables and their descriptions from data file.

Index variables	Variables description
Knowledge of causes of malaria	Thirteen (13) dichotomous variables with responses on eating and work habits, personal and environmental hygiene, bites from mosquitos, houseflies and hereditary factors, and other causes were used. Average scores were created on this item.
Knowledge of signs and symptoms	Ten (10) dichotomous variables that assessed respondents’ views on body fevers, vomiting, appetite, body weakness, cough/chills, urine colour, bitterness in mouth and other signs and symptoms. An ordinal scale was created to assess good and poor knowledge.
Knowledge of prevention/protection from malaria	Eleven (11) dichotomous variables that collected information on respondents use of ITNs, use of mosquito repellents and sprays, personal and environmental hygiene, use of protective cloths, and household strategies to prevent mosquito bites. An ordinal scale was created to measure good and poor knowledge.
Treatment awareness under NHIS	A single dichotomous variable that measured respondent’s awareness that treatment for malaria was covered under national health insurance.

Source: extracted from the GMIS 2016 data file for women.