Trend of Malaria Cases in Hana and Keyafer Health Centers, South Omo Zone, Southern Ethiopia

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Data registered in health facilities about malariaare vital source of information regarding the trend and pattern ofthe disease. Moreover the data also used to evaluate the impact ofthe intervention methods and to plan malaria control accordingly.The aim of this study was to assess the number of malaria cases inthe service providing health institutions of South Omo Zone,SNNPR, over a period of seven years, 2008-2014.METHODS: A retrospective review of routinely collected andrecorded data on malaria was conducted at Hana and Keyafer healthcenters located in South OmoZone, during December-March/2014.RESULT: This retrospective study examined records of 54,160presumptive and confirmed malaria cases registered over sevenyears (January 2008–December 2014). Among the registered, a totalof 22,494 laboratory confirmed malaria cases were reported. Themean annual prevalence of malaria was 3213, with total slidepositivity rate (SPR) of 41.53%. The seven years’overall trend ofmalaria occurrence in the study sites showed a fluctuating trendfrom 2008 to 20114.P. falciparum was the predominant species withno trend shift in seven years period. Plasmodium falciparumaccounted for 61.03% and Plasmodium vivax for 32.44%. Most ofthe confirmed cases were males (63.26%) and most were above 15years old (70.7%). Rainfall at lag of one month was significantlypredicting number of cases at Hana Health center (P< 0.001),though it was found to be not significant in case of KeyaferHealthCenter.CONCLUSION: The finding of the retrospective study revealed thatmalaria still remains as a public health problem in the study areas.The deadly species P. falciparium was most predominant, and theage group above 15 was more infected. Hence, malaria interventionmethods should be scaled up in the study sites