Evaluation of Impact of Health Education Intervention on Knowledge and Management of Typhoid Fever among Patent Medicine Vendors in Ebonyi, Nigeria

BACKGROUND Typhoid fever is a disease of public health concern in Nigeria. The incidence rate of typhoid fever in Ebonyi was 309 cases per 100,000 populations in 2018. The patent medicine vendor (PMVs) is a person who sells medicines in Nigeria without formal pharmaceutical education and dispensing training. However, they are licenced to sell only over-the-counter drugs. This study was carried out to evaluate the impact of health education interventions on knowledge and management practices related to typhoid fever on PMVs. METHODS A quasi-experimental study designed with experimental and control groups was carried out to evaluate the impact of a health education intervention on typhoid fever among PMVs. A multistage sampling technique was used to select the participants. A self-administered questionnaire written in English was used to obtain information from the respondents. The data were analysed via the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 26, and descriptive statistics were used to calculate frequencies, means, standard deviations, and proportions. RESULTS A total of 162 samples were analysed. The results revealed that 95.5% (6.8 ± 2.49) of the participants in the experimental group had poor knowledge of typhoid fever at baseline, and 46.8% (4.12 ± 1.58) had poor knowledge of management practices. The results also revealed that the control group recorded poor knowledge and management practices at baseline. The 3-month post intervention evaluation results revealed that knowledge of the experimental group improved to 56%, with mean/SD score of 10.2 ± 2.05, whereas good management practices improved to 94.4%, with mean/SD score 5.68 ± 0.58. The results also revealed poor knowledge of antibiotic and antimicrobial resistance and generally poor knowledge of the correct use of antibiotics to treat typhoid fever and the duration of treatment among the study experimental group. CONCLUSION The overall increase in knowledge after 3 months of intervention was 4.12 ± 1.58, indicating that health education remains the key to improving knowledge. However, further studies must focus on the correct use of antibiotics for treatment to reduce burden of antibiotic resistance in the study area.