Prevalence Of Malaria And Use Of Long Lasting Insecticide Treated Nets In Children Aged 6 59 Months At Internally Displaced Persons Camps Abuja

Globally there has been an increase in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP). IDPs are adisadvantaged population and prone to numerous challenges including insecurity, sexualviolence, poverty and malnutrition among others. For IDPs in malaria endemic countries, malariais a major cause of morbidity and mortality, especially among vulnerable populations of underfiveaged children and pregnant women.This study was conducted to determine the prevalence ofmalaria and utilization of Long Lasting Insecticidal Treated Nets among IDPs aged 6 – 59months in FCT-Abuja.A cross-sectional community based survey was conducted in the 3 IDP Camps located in Abujaand a total enumeration of children aged 6-59 months was done. Mother – child pairs of childrenaged 6-59 months were interviewed using a structured interviewer administered questionnaire.Finger prick blood samples were collected from eligible consenting children and tested formalaria parasitaemia.A total of 393 children from 242 households were recruited. The prevalence of malaria wasfound to be 32% and 51% via RDT and malaria microscopy respectively. The LLIN ownershipand coverage was 76.7% and 11.2% respectively. Utilisation was high with 89.7% of childrenaged 6-59 sleeping under an LLIN the night before the survey. The odds of LLIN utilization washigher in nets that were hanged (OR:55.9, 95% CI:18.12-172.14), those that lived near stagnantwater (OR: 2.9, 95% CI: 1.33-6.59 ),had owned the LLIN for 6 months or less, (OR: 2.6, 95%CI:1.20-5.57 ),Christians (OR:2.4, 95% CI: 1.10-5.62 ),and nets with holes (OR: 2.2, 95%CI:1.01-4.90),The odds of Malaria parasitaemia was significantly higher in females (OR: 1.7,95% CI: 1.08-2.61) and children who had traveled but not statistically significant (OR: 1.9, 95%CI: 0.73-4.70) while those who owned LLINs for less than 6 months were less likely to have parasitaemia. (OR: 0.6, 95% CI: 0.31-0.97).The prevalence of malaria among IDPs aged 6-59 months was high in spite of high ownershipand utilization of LLIN.LLIN coverage was low and factors significantly associated with LLINutilization were type of breeding sites near dwellings and net factors. There is need to improvecoverage of LLIN among IDPs and explore other malaria preventive strategies like the use ofpre-treated tarpaulins among IDPs.

Get Full Work

Report copyright infringement or plagiarism