Prevalence of Malaria among Children 1 – 10 Years Old in Communities in Awka North Local Government Area, Anambra State South East Nigeria

Abstract

Malaria is a major cause of illness and death especially among children under 5years old and pregnant women. It is estimated than more that more then one million children living in Africa especially in remote areas with poor access to health services die annually from direct and indirect effects of malaria (Fawale and Onadeko, 2001). Fatally affected children often die within less than 72h after developing the symptoms. In Nigeria, malaria consistently ranks among the five most common causes of death in children. As a result of increased mortality and morbidity there is need for proper understanding of the epidemiology of the disease among the most at risk groups. In the study of 1000 children, 1 -10 years old were randomly selected from 20 primary and 31 nursery schools in the four randomly selected Copyright © IAARR 2011: www.afrrevjo.com 265 Indexed African Journals Online: www.ajol.info communities in Awka North LGA. Two milliliters venous blood was collected from each of the 1000 pupil (600 primary and 400 nursery) and stored in an anticoagulant specimen bottle. Thick and thin films were prepared, stained and examined for malarial parasite under the microscope using the oil immersion objective. Also both 12h human bait collection and pyrethrum knocked down methods were used for identification of types of mosquitoes found in the study communities. Malaria infection is most prevalent among 1-4 years old, highest being among 3 years old (76.4%), followed by 1 and 4 years old with 71.3 and 71.2% respective, and 62.04% for 2 years old. This decreased as the children get older. There was no significant difference in prevalence among the male and female pupils, with 59. 2 and 57.2%,