Malaria Case Study

The prevalence rate and Risk Factors of Malaria among under 5 Years children at Elguneid Hospital, Elgezira State in the period 25 July to 25 September2013.

Tahani . B. Elyias 1and Majeda. H. Gulam2

1. Faculty of Medicine, University of Red Sea- Sudan.

2. Ministry of Health, Geziera State– Sudan.

*Corresponding authorha email: [e-mail]

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Abstract

Background: Malaria is a major contributor to child ill health; more than 10 million of the world’s children die each year before reaching the age of five. In Africa, where the majority of Malaria occurs, the highest mortality affects children less than 5 years of age.

Objective: The objective of this study was to find out the prevalence rate and risk factors of malaria infection

The questionnaire consisted of information about socio-economic condition of their mothers, nutritional status of children using anthropometric measures, complication of Malaria, use of mosquito bed nets, screening of windows, and rate of insecticide spraying at houses. Thin and thick blood films were taken for Malaria diagnosis. The nutritional status of children was determined using NCHS/WHO normalized reference values for weight-for-height.

Data Analysis

The data was analyzed with Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) to determine the relationship between Malaria disease and different variables.

Results

Figure 1 shows that 22% of children under 5 years old were infected with Malaria.

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Fig. 1: The prevalence rate of Malaria among children under 5years.

Table (1) shows that there is association between occurrence of Malaria cases among children and the educational level of their mothers, income and family size.

Table (1). The association between Malaria case and some selected variables.

Characteristics Total number Number of children infected with Malaria Percent (%)

Age

1 year 99 17 16

1-5year 385 89 84

Educational level **

Illiterate 95 42

.The results revealed that there is no relation between Malaria and age group because Malaria affects and (84%) of infected children were age group between 1-5 years. This finding disagrees with [6]. "In such areas young children are at greatest risk of Malaria infection. On the other hand, the study found a significant relationship between Malaria and mother educational level, this finding agrees with the results of [7] who stated that "urban residence can be accompanied by potentially protective socio economic factors against Malaria risk such as education and income (Fig.1 & Table 1).

Our study reported a significant relationship between Malaria and income,73.6% of affected children found among those income of as low as 250-350 SDGs. This finding agrees with[8],who stated "Malaria is frequently referred to as a disease of the poor family", also the study found the significant relationship between Malaria and family size The higher percentage (44%) of infected children were member to a family of more than 7 persons. This finding agrees with [9], who stated that approximately twice as many children with malaria slept in crowded rooms (Table