The prevalence of malaria in pregnancy and its complications, remain very high in Nigeria. This study aimed to determine the effects of a malaria health educational intervention based on the information-motivation-behavioural skills (IMB) model on malaria preventive practices and pregnancy outcomes. Methods: The study was a randomized controlled parallel-group study, where 372 randomly selected antenatal care attendees were randomly assigned to one of either two groups after collecting baseline

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... data. The intervention group then received a four-hour health education intervention developed based on the IMB model, while the control group received a similarly designed health education on breastfeeding, and were then followedup to the end of their pregnancies. The intention-to-treat analysis using the generalized linear mixed models was used to analyse the data obtained. Results: The reported frequency of ITN use and dose of IPTp taken, were higher in the intervention group by 0.32 levels ( p =0.024) and 0.37 doses ( p <0.001) respectively, implying that for 32% and 37% of the participants, an individual in the intervention group slept more frequently under an ITN by one day, and had also took one dose of IPTp more than an individual in the control group. The intervention group also achieved a haematocrit level of 0.80% higher than the control group. The intervention however, had no significant effect on the incidence of malaria diagnosis or babies' birth weights. Conclusion: The intervention was effective in improving ITN use, IPTp uptake, and haematocrit levels. It is therefore recommended for the module to be adopted and incorporated into the routine antenatal care programmes in the state. contributed the largest percent of cases (27%) to its global incidence in the year 2016 [2] . Complications like anaemia [3, 4] , abortion, [5, 6] , stillbirth [7, 8] , low-birth weight [9, 10], and pre-term delivery [7] could arise from malaria infection during pregnancy. The World Health Organization recommends that all pregnant women living in malaria-endemic regions of sub-Saharan Africa always sleep under an insecticide-treated net (ITN), and take monthly doses of intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy (IPTp) with Sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP), starting from the second trimester of pregnancy [11] . Systematic reviews of trials have also shown that sleeping under an ITN [12, 13] and IPTp [14, 15] greatly decrease the risk of malaria infection and its complications during pregnancy. In Maiduguri, Nigeria, the prevalence of malaria parasitaemia at the time of booking, among randomly selected pregnant women was 60.3% [16] . A prevalence of 48.1% had also been reported among antenatal care attendees of a secondary health centre [17], while a prevalence of 33.9% [18] and 44.5% [19] had been reported in a tertiary centre in the same city. Even the adverse events which could occur as complications of malaria in pregnancy, are highly prevalent in Maiduguri. A four-year retrospective study at a tertiary centre in Maiduguri revealed a neonatal mortality rate of 349 per 1,000 live births; and 62.1% of these deaths were among pre-term infants [20] . Out of 718 women admitted to the gynaecology ward in the three main public hospitals in Maiduguri, 17.5% had a history of spontaneous abortion, 23.1% of which were attributed to malaria, typhoid, or other like febrile illnesses [6] . Also in a tertiary hospital in Maiduguri, out of 7,996 deliveries, there were 23 stillbirths per 1,000 live births [21] . A prospective study among pregnant women in the same centre revealed a prevalence of 16.9% for low birth weight [22] .