This paper assesses exposure to messages on malaria prevention
among household heads with children 0-4 years in Ghana, and examines
whether exposure influences use of ITNs among these children in their
households and if certain types of exposure (television, radio, health worker)
are associated with ITN usage. We used data collected in the 2008 Ghana
Demographic and Health Survey for which over 12,000 households were
selected for interview. We used a final sample of 1770 households in our
analyses. Bivariate and multivariate techniques were employed to examine
the relationship between household head's level of exposure to malaria
prevention messages and use of ITNs among children under five. Children
under five years whose household heads had exposure to malaria prevention
messages had over twice the odds of using ITNs as those whose household
heads had no exposure. Household heads who were exposed through health
workers and the radio had about 40 percent higher odds of using ITNs for
their children under five years compared to those who did not have exposure
through these channels while controlling for other channels. Campaigns must
go beyond the production of messages regarding the hanging of bednets to
include information on behaviour of mosquitoes to improve use of ITNs.
Community-based educational campaigns involving health workers are
recommended to target universal use of ITNs among under-five children in
Ghana. There is also the need to improve literacy in order for other channels
of information such as newspapers and posters to achieve similar results.