Effect of the intervention on outcome variables
malaria, MPE
MALARIA, REGRESSION
The mean number of parents and SAC attended the MPE in each school were 62.9 and 93.5% respectively. The difference in bed net ownership before the intervention and after intervention in the control arm was 65.4% (84.6–19.2%) while it was 70.4% in the intervention group. The corresponding numbers for bed net utilization among SAC were 47.0 and 47.2 respectively. However, the differences in the bed net ownership as well as the difference in bed net utilization by SAC in the intervention and control group was not statistically significant (Table The reported number of malaria cases was higher in the control schools as compared to children in the intervention group. The reported cumulative incidence of malaria within one year of follow-up among children in the control group was 18.3%, but it was 16.2% in the intervention group. This difference was also not statistically significant (COR = 0.8; 95%CI of 0.5–1.5). The reported malaria cases sought treatment for malaria from different sources: health facilities (76.4%), taking antimalarial treatment from the private pharmacies without health professionals prescription (13.0%), traditional medicine (1.1%), homemade remedies (5.4%), and religious leaders (1.1%). The number of children who visited a health facility as the 1st choice after noticing the symptoms of malaria was 81.5% in the intervention arm and 71.9% in the control group. However, the difference (9.6%) was not statistically significant (COR = 1.4; 95%CI of 0.5–4.3). The detailed effect size of the intervention on the outcome variables was described in Table 
Analysis of the effect of malaria prevention education on study outcomes and its effect size taking control groups as a reference, 2020Apart from the intervention, other factors affecting the bed net utilization by the SAC were also assessed. In the univariable mixed effects logistic regression, several factors significantly affected bed net utilization by the SAC. Children from households where the household head is a civil servant were about 2 times more likely to slept under the bed net the previous night before the survey (95%CI of 1.2–3.2). The other factors significantly influenced bed net utilization by SAC were the educational status of the child’s mother/caretaker (COR = 1.3; 95%CI of 1.1–1.7), mothers/caretakers who were educated more than grade six (COR = 1.3; 95%CI of 1.3–1.7) as compared to those who did not reach to grade six among literates ones. Table 
Univariate analysis of bed net utilization by SAC in a MPE intervention study Southern Ethiopia, 2019–2020*Statistically significant at univariable analysis
Predictors of bed net utilization by SAC in a MPE intervention study Southern Ethiopia, 2019–2020** statistically significant at multivariable analysisTables 
Univariate analysis of reported malaria incidence among SAC in a MPE intervention study in Southern Ethiopia, 2019–2020
Multivariable analysis of reported malaria incidence among SAC in a MPE intervention study in Southern Ethiopia, 2019–2020**statistically significant at multivariable analysis