PREVALENCE OF MALARIA AND VECTOR CONTROL ACTIVITIES IN TWO VILLAGES OF HUMBO DISTRICT IN WOLITA ZONE, SOUTHWEST ETHIOPIA BY SHIMELS ELIAS

Abstract

Malaria remains one of the most serious public health problems. The existing malaria prevention and control strategies have brought a substantial change in malaria epidemiology and disease burden. The impact is, however, varies from place to place due to several reasons. The current study assessed the prevalence of malaria and vector control activities in Fango-Gelchecha and Shochora-Abela villages of Humbo district in Wolita Zone, southwestern Ethiopia. The villages were purposively selected based on the malaria prevalence. In Fango-Gelchecha village, the parasitological survey was done twice: before and after the application of indoor residual spray (IRS), while the survey was done only after IRS application in Shochora-Abela village. The comparison between the two villages was done using the data after IRS application. 300 households were selected systematically in each village by taking every fourth house from the village registration list. A total of 3075 individuals were enumerated and enrolled for malaria blood test. Microscopically confirmed malaria positive cases were 59 with the overall prevalence of 1.9% (95% Confidence Interval: 95%CI: 1.5-2.5). Of the positive cases, 41cases (1.33%: 95%CI: 1.1-1.3) were from Fango-Gelchecha, while 18 (0.59%: 95% CI: 1.3-1.8) were from Shochora-Abela village. With regard to age categories, the prevalence of malaria was 10.1% (95%: 5.9-15.9) among children age less than 5 years, it was 4.7% (95% CI: 3.3-6.4) in children between 5-14 years and only 0.32 % (95% CI: 0.13-0.67) in age group above 15 years. Overall, P.falciparum was the dominant malaria parasite which accounted for 69.5% (95% CI: 56.1-95%CI: 1.1-1.3) were from Fango-Gelchecha, while 18 (0.59%: 95% CI: 1.3-1.8) were from Shochora-Abela village. With regard to age categories, the prevalence of malaria was 10.1% (95%: 5.9-15.9) among children age less than 5 years, it was 4.7% (95% CI: 3.3-6.4) in children between 5-14 years and only 0.32 % (95% CI: 0.13-0.67) in age group above 15 years. Overall, P.falciparum was the dominant malaria parasite which accounted for 69.5% (95% CI: 56.1-80.8), while P. vivax malaria accounted for 30.5% (95% CI: 19.2-43.8). The overall prevalence of malaria before IRS was 3.1% (95% CI: 2.3-4.0), while it was 2.6% (95% CI: 1.8-3.5) after the application of IRS in Fango-Gelchecha village. The prevalence was 1.2% (95% CI: 0.7-1.9) in Shochora-Abela village. About 95% (287/300) households in Fango-Gelchecha village and 83% (249/300) in Shochora-Abela had at least one bed net. With regard to the bed net use, 344 (57.3%) household members slept under bed net all the year, while 256 (42.7%) slept in peak mosquito season. The prevalence of malaria is high in children under five year of age and the P. falciparum was the common parasite in the villages which implies the active malaria transmission. Moreover, the bed net use rate was low in the villages and hence the TINshould be improved to reduce the burden of malaria infection