Prevalence of asymptomatic malaria infection and use of different malaria control measures among primary school children in Morogoro Municipality, Tanzania

Background. Asymptomatic malaria and helminths coinfection occurs mainly in the tropics and subtropics where poverty and sanitary practice favor its high prevalence. In the tropics, where malaria is endemic, helminths also thrive resulting in coinfection. This study aimed to access the prevalence of asymptomatic malaria and helminths coinfection and its contribution for anemia in primary school children of Gedeo Zone, Southern Ethiopia. Methodology. This was a cross-sectional study conducted among 413 primary school children from February to April 2020. Finger-prick blood samples were used to determine asymptomatic malaria and hemoglobin concentrations. Stool samples were collected and processed through formalin-ether concentration techniques to detect the presence of intestinal helminths. Data were double entered into Epi Data version 3.1 software and exported to SPSS version 20 for analysis. Pearson’s chi-square and correlation analysis were performed as part of the statistical analyses. Result. A total of 413 primary school children aged 6 to 16 years (mean age ± SD: 10.7 ± 2.64years) were enrolled in the study. 159 (38.5%) of school children were infected with at least one of the parasitic diseases. The overall prevalence of asymptomatic malaria and intestinal helminths was 46 (11.1%) and 113 (27.3%) respectively. Asymptomatic malaria and helminths coinfection was 29 (7%). Total of 39.1% of asymptomatic malaria-infected school children were anemic, which is statistically significant P < 0.05 . 15.9% of helminths-infected school children were anemic, not statistically significant P > 0.05 . The prevalence of anemia was 12 (41.3%) among coinfected students, which is statistically significant P < 0.005 . Conclusion. Asymptomatic malaria and helminths coinfection affects the health status of considerable number of primary school children in the study area. Therefore, simultaneous combat against the two parasitic infections is crucial to improve health of the school children.

Download Full-text

The Impact of Control Measures on Urinary Schistosomiasis in Primary School Children in Northern Cameroon: A Unique Opportunity for Controlled Observations

American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene ◽

10.4269/ajtmh.1995.53.577 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 53 (6) ◽

pp. 577-580 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Daniel Bausch ◽

Barnett L. Cline

Keyword(s):

Primary School ◽

School Children ◽

Control Measures ◽

Primary School Children ◽

Urinary Schistosomiasis ◽

Northern Cameroon ◽

The Impact

Download Full-text

A Socio-demographic Comparison of Malnutrition and Malaria Prevalence among Primary School Children in Gombe State Nigeria

European Journal of Nutrition & Food Safety ◽

10.9734/ejnfs/2020/v12i730255 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 97-109

Author(s):

Mela Danjin ◽

Solomon O. Adewoye ◽

Henry O. Sawyerr

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Primary School ◽

School Children ◽

Malaria Infection ◽

Public Health Care ◽

Primary School Children ◽

Complex Nature ◽

Infection Prevalence ◽

Level Of Education ◽

Z Scores

Background: Despite the complex nature of inter-relationship between malnutrition and malaria, there has been continued emphasis and need to further re-examine the twin issues side-by-side with a view to forging an integrated public health care strategy. Objective: This study aimed to make comparison and possibly add to the increasing body of evidence on the relationship between malnutrition and malaria among apparently healthy primary school children in Gombe state, Nigeria. Methodology: Between the months of March and June 2019, a total of 745 school children aged 6 to 15 years were studied using a cross sectional design. Selection of the children was done by means of a multi-stage sampling technique, from 12 public and 6 private schools in 6 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the state. Levels of malnutrition among the subjects were measured using three anthropometric indices, namely; stunting (Height-for-age Z-scores, HAZ), underweight (Weight-for-age Z-scores, WAZ) and wasting (Weight-for-height Z-score, WHZ); while screening for malaria infection was done using rapid diagnostic test (RDT) kits. The WHO AnthroPlus and IBM SPSS version 21 statistical software packages were used for data analysis. Descriptive statistics was employed to summarize research findings, while chi square statistics was used to compare proportions at 0.05 alpha significance level. Results: About half (50.9%) of the subjects were boys while girls constitutes the rest 49.1%. The overall prevalence of stunting was 22.5% (19.6 - 25.6), underweight 20.9% (18.1 - 23.9), and wasting, 16.8% (13.7 - 20.4). Furthermore, malaria infection prevalence among the subjects was 13.6%. Age group and sex were found to be significantly associated with malnutrition (underweight or stunting or both) but they weren’t with malaria. On the other hand, while place of residence and level of education were significantly associated with malaria, they were not associated with malnutrition. Overall, both malnutrition and malaria were found to be significantly associated with type of school, senatorial district, tribe, religion, occupation of father, occupation of mother and level of education of mother. On the whole, malnutrition and malaria were significantly associated. Conclusion: In light of the above epidemiological pattern of distribution and associations between the two public health problems, the design of intervention programmes should integrate approaches targeted at the two issues among primary school children.

Download Full-text