Abstract:
Malaria is a vector-borne infectious disease caused by protozoan parasites of the genus
Plasmodium. It is ranked as the leading communicable disease in Ethiopia; it accounting to
17% of all outpatient visits in 2011/2012.The aim of this study was to determine the
prevalence and association of malaria and anemia among patients visiting Alaba Health
Center, Alaba Kulito town Southern Ethiopia. The study was a Health Center based cross
sectional survey and conducted from November to December 2015. Blood sample were
collected from 384 participates and used for determination of malaria and anemia. Malaria
detection and identification of Plasmodium species were based on microscopic examination of
thick and thin Giemsa stained blood film. Determination of the hemoglobin concentration was
carried out using portable hematology analyzer (Mission Hb). Moreover, structured
questionnaires were used to access socio demographic characteristics participants and risk
factor in relation to malaria. SPSS version (16) software was used to analyze the data and chi
square test was calculated to determine association between malaria and anemia . The overall
prevalence of malaria and anemia were found to be 43(11.2%) and 87 (22.65%) respectively.
Major Plasmodium species detected were P. vivax and P. falciparium with the prevalence of
38(9.9%) and 5 (1.3%) respectively. Prevalence of malaria was high among male 25 (16.3%)
and anemia 64 (27.7%) among female and high 13 (19.1%) prevalence of malaria and anemia
44(24.2%) obtained in age groups of <15 and 16-30 respectively. From malaria infected
participants,12(27.9%) were anemia positive and the rest 31(72.1%) were anemia
negative and the association was not statisticallysignificant (χ
2=0.76, P =0.383). On basis of the findings simultaneous combat against the malaria Infections and accessing other etiologic
factors for anemia such as nutrition, parasitic infection is very crucial to reduce the relative
burden of malaria and anemia infection in this study area.
