Browsing by Author "Ayalew Seble"

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    The Prevalence of Malaria and the Associated Risk Factors in Jiga area, Northwest Ethiopia
    (Addis Ababa Universty, 2014-12) Ayalew Seble; Mamo Hassen (PhD)
    Malaria remains among leading causes of morbidity and mortality globally. In Ethiopia the public health and socio-economic impact of malaria is huge. It contributes highly to the country’s poverty and underdevelopment. This study aimed at assessing the current situation of the disease in relation to relevant socio-demographic and environmental factors in Jiga area, northwest Ethiopia. Descriptive cross-sectional household (HH) survey was carried out in November-December 2013. Out of 2,574 HHs (11,815 people), 392 were randomly selected from three purposely selected clusters/Kebeles, the smallest administrative units in government structure. Heads of the selected HHs or any member of age ≥18 years, when the former was not at home during the visit, were interviewed using a pre-tested structured questionnaire to capture relevant data on socio-demographic/environmental variables and malaria control interventions. Further, randomly selected afebrile 392 inhabitants of the selected HHs within selected clusters were tested for malaria by malaria rapid diagnostic test (mRDT) using finger-prick blood samples. Eleven participants (2.8%) were found to be mRDT positive. Out of the screened inhabitants 95.9% had longlasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) and 76.1% self-reported to sleep under net the previous night. Insecticide residual spray (IRS) coverage was similarly reported to be 85.5%. Binary logistic regression analyses revealed that low-income inhabitants were significantly positively associated with malaria infection (odds ratio (OR) = 1.165, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.2100-6.4671, p=0.047). The association between proximity to mosquito breeding site and malaria incidence was also significant (p=0.025). In multivariate analysis while HH income level and number of LLINs/HH were positively associated with significantly reduced malaria prevalence with p-values 0.049 (OR=4.5, 95% CI: 1.004-20.163) and 0.004 (OR=0 .508, 95% CI: 0.074-3.46), respectively, HH distance from mosquito breeding site significantly increased the risk of malaria ((OR=0.077, 95% CI: 0.010-0.587), p=0.013). Ownership and use of LLINs in the previous night, IRS coverage, and other socio-demographics were not significantly associated with malaria cases. The recorded malaria prevalence estimate is unexpectedly higher, relative to the most recent nationwide report, given the extensively undergoing control interventions, survey population and period, limitations of mRDT implicating the sustained risk of malaria in Jiga area with the involvement of multiple locality-specific factors. Therefore further work has to be done in scaling-up the implementation of proven malaria control tools in addition to the employment of other complimentary strategies. Keywords: Indoor residual spraying, long-lasting insecticidal net, mRDT, malaria, prevalence, Jabi- Tehnan, Jiga