Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Jan 5:3:1305074.
doi: 10.3389/fepid.2023.1305074. eCollection 2023.

Plasmodium falciparum remains the dominant parasite affecting children despite decades of implementing vector control in two villages of Wolaita Zone, Southwest Ethiopia

Shimels Elias  1 , Fekadu Massebo  1
Affiliations

Plasmodium falciparum remains the dominant parasite affecting children despite decades of implementing vector control in two villages of Wolaita Zone, Southwest Ethiopia

Shimels Elias et al. Front Epidemiol. .

Abstract

Background: Malaria is still a significant public health concern, and its prevention and control measures have different impacts in different areas. This study assesses the prevalence of malaria and the effectiveness of routine malaria control programmes such as indoor residual spray (IRS) in two Ethiopian villages.

Methods: The Kebeles (villages) were purposefully selected based on their malaria prevalence rates. A parasitology survey was conducted in Fango-Gelchecha pre- and post-IRS implementation, whereas in Shochora-Abela it was only conducted post-IRS implementation. The IRS was implemented as part of the routine malaria control programme in August 2017. Every fourth house from the village registration list was systematically selected, resulting in a sample of 300 households per village. A total of 3,075 individuals were enrolled for malaria testing using microscopy.

Results: After three to four months of application of IRS in August 2017, 59 malaria cases were confirmed, resulting in an overall prevalence of 1.9% (95% CI: 1.5-2.5). Of the positive cases, 18 cases (0.59%: 95% CI: 1.3-1.8) were from Shochora-Abela village, and 41 cases (1.33%: 95% CI: 1.1-1.3) were from Fango-Gelchecha. About age categories, the prevalence of malaria was 10.1% (95% CI: 5.9-15.9) among children under five, 4.7% (95% CI: 3.3-6.4) in children aged 5-14, and only 0.32% (95% CI: 0.13-0.67) in the age group 15 and above. Overall, P. falciparum was the dominant malaria parasite, accounting for 69.5% (95% CI: 56.1-80.8), while P. vivax malaria accounted for 30.5% (95% CI: 19.2-43.8). The malaria prevalence in Fango-Gelchecha village was 3.1% (95% CI: 2.3-4.0) before IRS and 2.6% (95% CI: 1.8-3.5) after IRS application. In the village of Shochora-Abela, the prevalence of malaria post-IRS was 1.2% (95% CI: 0.7-1.9), but the prevalence prior to IRS was not evaluated.

Conclusions: Plasmodium falciparum is the predominant parasite in the villages, mainly affecting children under five. Therefore, protecting young children should be the top priority for reducing infection burdens.

Keywords: Humbo district; IRS; Plasmodium falciprum; Wolaita Zone; malaria prevalence.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Map of the study villages in humbo district, wolaita zone in southwest Ethiopia.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Study flow chart.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. WHO. World malaria report: 20 years of global progress and challenges. Geneva: World Health Organization; (2020)
    1. WHO. World malaria report 2016. Geneva: World Health Organization; (2016)
    1. Taffese HS, Hemming-Schroeder E, Koepfli C, Tesfaye G, Lee MC, Kazura J, et al. Malaria epidemiology and interventions in Ethiopia from 2001 to 2016. Infect Dis Poverty (2018) 7: 103 10.1186/s40249-018-0487-3 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Esayas E, Woyessa A, Massebo F. Malaria infection clustered into small residential areas in lowlands of southern Ethiopia. Parasite Epidemiol Control (2020) 10: e00149. 10.1016/j.parepi.2020.e00149 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Massebo F, Balkew M, Gebre-Michael T, Lindtjorn B. Entomologic inoculation rates of Anopheles arabiensis in southwestern Ethiopia. Am J Trop Med Hyg (2013) 89: 466–73. 10.4269/ajtmh.12-0745 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources