Five-Year Trend of Malaria Prevalence in Mojo Town, Central Ethiopia: Shifting Burden of the Disease and Its Implication for Malaria Elimination: A Retrospective Study

Abstract

Introduction Malaria continues to strike hardest against the health and economic development in Ethiopia. The peak of malaria incidence follows the main rainfall season in each year; however, its transmission tends to be highly heterogeneous within or between years and from area to area. Thus, this study was aimed to determine the trend prevalence of malaria in Mojo town, central Ethiopia. Methods A retrospective study was conducted in Mojo town, East Shoa zone, Ethiopia from February to March 2021. Malaria cases and related data documented between 2016 and 2020 were carefully reviewed from laboratory registration logbooks. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results A total of 19,106 blood films were examined from malaria-suspected patients. The overall microscopically confirmed prevalence of malaria was 4.2% (793/19,106). Plasmodium vivax was the predominant species accounting for 76.2% (604/793) of positive samples. Malaria cases declined from 259 in 2016 to 77 in 2020. The proportion of malaria was higher among males (64.8%, 514/793) than females (35.2%, 279/793) (P < 0.0001). Higher malaria cases were observed from the age group 15–24 years followed by the age group of 25–34 (P < 0.0001). The number of malaria cases was at a high level from September to November and lowest from December to February. Conclusion Despite a declining trend of malaria prevalence, it remains a public health burden in the area. P. vivax , the predominant species, should get attention during prevention and control strategies for the successful progress of the malaria elimination program.

Trend analysis of malaria surveillance data in West Wallaga, West Oromia, Ethiopia: a framework for planning and elimination

“…This may be due to resemblance in geographic location and similarity of study design. However, this study shows relatively higher as compared to study conducted in Woreta Health Center (5.4%) [ 14 ], South Wollo (7.52%) [ 22 ] and Mojo Town (4.2%) [ 5 ].…”

“…Despite substantial progress has been made in key malaria prevention and control, in African countries, including Ethiopia, malaria remains one of the most devastating parasitic diseases affecting humans, and placed Ethiopia 15th in Africa [ 5 ]. The socio-economic conditions, suitability of the climate and environmental factors of the region for the distribution and breeding of the mosquitoes and parasites, and lack of governmental support for effective control are among challenges facing malaria elimination in sub-Saharan Africa [ 2 ].…”

“…Ethiopia is a high malaria burden country with 60% of the population living in high transmission areas (the total population of the country being 102.8 million in 2020) [ 5 , 6 ]. However, the distribution and transmission of malaria varies across the country depending on rainfall patterns, altitude, and ecological and climate variations [ 7 , 8 ].…”

“…The objective of the National Malaria Elimination Strategy Plan (NMSP) that spans from 2021–2026 indicates that to achieve nationwide malaria elimination, 100% confirmatory test mainly Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs) or microscopy, should be performed for all suspected malaria cases and treatments should also be provided for confirmed malaria cases [ 9 ]. From 2015 to 2019, the information obtained from 25 sentinel sites indicated that 25% of the total suspected cases were malaria positive with P. falciparum (65%) was reported predominantly [ 5 , 7 ].…”

Trends of Malaria Prevalence in Selected Districts of Kaffa Zone, Southwest Ethiopia

“…A five-year trend analysis conducted in Ataye, North Shewa, Ethiopia between 2013 and 2017 showed a malaria prevalence of 8.4% (2670/31,810) [38]. Moreover, a five-year and seven-year trend analysis revealed a malaria prevalence of 4.2% (793/19,106) [39] and 6.96% (5010/71,986) [40] from Mojo Town, Central Ethiopia, and North West Tigray, respectively.…”