Malaria prevalence and patients’ knowledge, attitude, and preventive practices toward the disease in the Jawi District, Awi Zone, Northwest Ethiopia

TL;DR

This study in Ethiopia found high malaria prevalence and low use of preventive measures like mosquito nets, especially among young children and women.

Contribution

The study provides updated data on malaria trends and community knowledge in a specific Ethiopian region over seven years.

Findings

40.9% of blood films tested positive for malaria, with Plasmodium falciparum being the most common.

Women had more mixed infections (P. falciparum and P. vivax) compared to men.

Malaria cases peaked in June, and 60.1% of respondents never used mosquito nets.

Abstract

Malaria is the most important parasitic illness causing morbidity and mortality with high prevalence in tropical regions.

This study was aimed at evaluating the 7-year malaria trend and community awareness at Jawi Health Center and primary Hospital in Northwest Ethiopia.

A retrospective and cross-sectional or prospective design were used for the study. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 22 software. The findings were considered significant at P < 0.05.

Among 62,624 blood films between 2015 and 2021 at Jawi Health Center, 40.9% were positive. Plasmodium falciparum accounted for 85.8%. Women had more mixed infections (P. falciparum and P. vivax) (X2 = 8.9, df = 2, P = 0.011) than men. A greater proportion (20.6%) of malaria cases was observed within the under 5 years age group and the number of malaria cases was higher in September, October, and June. The overall prevalence of malaria was found to be 25.2% and June had the highest proportion (75.6%). In total, 335 (80.9%) respondents recognized mosquito bites as the cause and fever (50%) as a clinical symptom of malaria. More than half of the respondents (60.1%) never sleep under mosquito nets.

Thus, these findings have substantial implications for the trend of malaria prevalence and patient awareness of the disease which support the existing malaria control efforts.

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