Prevalence of malaria and treatment procurement in three local government areas of Ekiti State, Nigeria

Abstract

Malaria remains a major health problem in Nigeria. It accounts for over 60% outpatient visit and 30% hospital admission in Nigeria. Ineffective treatment of malaria is also one of the factors responsible for its prevalence. The prevalence of malaria and treatment procurement was studied in Ekiti state, Nigeria. The study was carried out using well-structured questionnaire comprising of three sections A to C, Socio-economic, input and output data; data on method, cost of treatment of malaria and expenditure were obtained. Multistage random sampling technique was adopted. The result obtained showed that males with percentage prevalence of 53% were more infected than females with 47%. Respondent with symptoms of fever and chills was 48.2% while 51.8% complained of headache and pains. 80.3%% of the respondents have knowledge of malaria transmission while 19.7% have no idea. 46.7% of respondents spent less than 1000 naira for treatment procurement while 53.3% spent more than 1000naira. However, there was a significant difference (p<0.05) between males and female's susceptibility to malaria disease. Therefore, as at the time of study, there is prevalence of malaria in the communities despite the knowledge of the respondents on transmission of malaria and treatment procured.

Epidemiology of falciparum malaria among residents of some rural and peri- urban communities in Ekiti State, Southwestern Nigeria

“…Furthermore, while malaria prevalence is slightly higher though insignificant among male compared to their female counterparts, parasite density is higher among females than male. Previous studies have shown that males usually have malaria infection than females (Sachs & Malaney, 2002;Esan, 2014;Sam Wobo et al, 2014;Adewole et al, 2017;Umma et al, 2017). Though both male and female are basically at risk of contracting malaria infection, males were generally more exposed in this study area.…”

Malaria Parasite Infection in Some Periurban and Rural Communities in Ekiti State, Nigeria

“…During raining season, the prevalence was 40.2% in males and 36.4% in females. Adewole, et al [37] also reported higher prevalence of malaria infection in males than in females in their studies that involved three Local government Areas in Ekiti State. Similarly, Hayat, et al [38] reported infection rate to be higher among young adult males than females in Pakistan.…”

Assessment of Belief, Family size and utilization of insecticide treated nets among pregnant women in Southern Zone of Cross River State, Nigeria

“…In this study, belief is seen as pregnant women religious affiliation and principle that govern the use of insecticide treated nets. Olaitan (2011) observed that ITNs utilization depends on the belief system of the couple or pregnant women. Pregnant women are susceptible to symptomatic malaria due to invasion of the placenta by plasmodium.…”