Assessment of Five Years Trend of Malaria in Finote Selam Town, Northwest Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Malaria is mosquito-borne infectious disease of human being caused by parasitic protozoan which belongs to the genes plasmodium. It is transmitted by the bite of mosquitoes. An estimated 190–330 million malaria episodes and 1.5 million malaria deaths occur worldwide annually. Currently 90% of all malaria deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa. It is the fourth leading cause of death in children under the age of five years in developing countries. Three forth of the land of Ethiopian is assumed to be malarious. The epidemiological pattern of malaria transmission in the country is generally seasonal, and highly unstable due to variations in topography and rainfall patterns. The country is working by planning different malaria control and prevention programs in the past six years in the study area. However, there were no documented evidences showing malaria burden through time. Hence the current study would fill this gap which might use to scale up and to design effective communication strategies to combat malaria.

To assess the five years trend of malaria in Finote Selam town, northwest Ethiopia, a study was conducted from 2002 to 2006 E.C trough reviewing reported documents. All patients that were recorded as malaria cases from 2002 -2006 E.C were the study population. Data collection tool was developed from data recording system of Finote Selam town Health Office. Data quality assurance was done at field level, during and after data entry. Result of the study was presented using proportions, line and bar graphs.

This study examined records of 47,299 malaria cases registered over 5 years. The maximum (13,748) microscopically confirmed cases of malaria were reported in 2012/2013. The highest peak of malaria cases occur an observed in almost all years particularly during spring (September, October and November) and the minimum malaria cases were observed during the dry seasons (December, January and February.) Regarding the identification of the plasmodium species, both species were reported in each year with Plasmodium falciparium being the predominant species. The respective proportion of Plasmodium falciparium and Plasmodium Vivax morbidity were 40.2% and 33.9%. In the study area, the case was more prevalent on males, 25.460 (53.8%) than females, 21,839(46.2%). Malaria is still a major public health problem. The maximum number of malaria case occurred in 2012/2013 budget year, in the spring seasons and among males. Therefore, prevention and control activities should be continued in a strengthened manner.