Table 7

Preventive measures for MRI with and without convulsions
Preventive measures reported1
 How reported2


Vignette with convulsion (n = 101)
 Vignette without convulsion (n = 100)


Total
 Fraction Spont.
 Total
 Fraction Spont.
Insect bites



Prevent mosquitoes' bite3
 58.4
 0.27
 94.0
 0.31**
Regular medications
 88.1
 0.24
 87.0
 0.27
Taking herbal or biomedicine regularly
 75.4
 0.45
 73.0
 0.44
Deworming regularly
 50.4
 0.18
 49.0
 0.16
Sun & strenuous play
 33.6
 0.21
 80.0
 0.29**
Stay less in the sun or near fire
 31.9
 0.22
 79.0
 0.28**
Reduction in strenuous play
 8.0
 0.13
 35.0
 0.20**
Sanitation & hygiene
 55.4
 0.66
 71.0
 0.66**
Cleaning the environment
 29.7
 0.63
 49.0
 0.74**
Keeping personal hygiene
 51.5
 0.65
 66.0
 0.67**
Food and drink
 59.4
 0.47
 86.0
 0.38**
Eating balanced diet
 33.6
 0.59
 40.0
 0.63
Avoid fatty/oily foods
 29.8
 0.03
 63.0
 0.14**
Drinking clean water
 18.8
 0.37
 32.0
 0.41**
Eating less starchy food
 17.8
 0.11
 28.0
 0.11*
Eating on time (not going hungry for long)
 10.9
 0.00
 16.0
 0.13
Drink a lot of vegetable soup
 10.9
 0.28
 18.0
 0.28
Magico-religious
 47.5
 0.19
 37.0
 0.00**
Avoid offending evil spirits like the witches
 23.8
 0.25
 15.0
 0.00*
Attend to ancestral spirits and family gods
 40.7
 0.20
 32.0
 0.00
Don't know/cannot tell
 22.8
 1.00
 14.0
 1.00

1 Preventive measures analysed as groups (in bold) based on reported categories that follow.

*p ≤ 0.10 and ** p ≤ 0.05. Wilcoxon test for comparison of prominence of reported categories (2 = spontaneous, 1 = probed response, 0 = not reported).

2Column values indicate frequency of reported categories and the fraction of these reported spontaneously.

Ahorlu et al. Malaria Journal 2005 4:47   doi:10.1186/1475-2875-4-47