Use of intermittent preventive treatment for malaria by pregnant women in Buea, Cameroon.

We identified individual factors associated with IPT use, by comparing characteristics of pregnant women who use IPT to those who do not. A cross-sectional study was conducted in antenatal clinics in Buea, Cameroon, from December 2006 to December 2007. Information on factors: age, parity, gravidity, gestational age, level of education, use of insecticide treated nets (ITN), socioeconomic status and IPT use was collected through interview and filled in a questionnaire. Data was entered using EPIDATA version 3 and analysis done using STATA version 8.2. A total of 527 pregnant women were interviewed with a mean (+/-SD) age of 26.45+/-5.37 years. 69.71% of the pregnant women used at least two doses of IPT. Logistic regression revealed women with higher educational status were more likely to use IPT compared to those with lower educational status (OR=3.14, 95% CI=1.20-8.25, p=0.02). Meanwhile, multigravid women tend to use IPT less than their primigravid counterparts (OR=0.47, 95% CI=0.26-0.84, p=0.01). There was no evidence that maternal age, parity, marital status, gestational age, use of ITN and socioeconomic status were each associated to IPT use. In antenatal clinics in Buea, South Western Cameroon, educational status and gravidity are the key determinants of IPT use.