Malaria, a blood parasitic disease is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity particularly among children and pregnant women because they are most at risk in many developing countries, especially those in Sub-Saharan Africa. Most of the deaths due to malaria could be averted if care-takers recognized the signs and symptoms of malaria and instituted appropriate measures without delay. Early recognition followed by correct management is a key strategy for malaria control in endemic areas. The effectiveness of this strategy requires an understanding of care- seeking patterns including the actions the care-takers initiate in response to an episode of childhood febrile illness since they greatly influence the severity of the disease. A health facility-based descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out in a rural District of Kenya (a malaria endemic area), where caretakers seeking treatment for their children aged under-five years who tested positive for malaria parasites were recruited into the study. The main objective was to determine health care practices during the illness and their effect on the severity of the illness.

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Dr Mwaniki is a lecturer in Nursing and Public Health Sciences in the Department of Nursing Sciences of Kenyatta University, Kenya. He is among the members of teaching staff who were instrumental in the mounting of health programmes at the University. He holds a Masters of Public Health and Epidemiology and a PhD in Public Health.