Abstract:
Background: Malaria is a serious disease that leads to severe adverse effects on mothers and the
fetus during pregnancy. Approximately 25 million pregnant women in sub-Saharan Africa live at
risk of malaria. Since no study was conducted to address the prevalence of malaria and its
associated factors among pregnant women in the region, hence this study is designed to address
these issues in Bossaso, Somalia.
Methods: A health institution based cross-sectional study was conducted using a systematic
random sampling technique to select 422 participants among pregnant women attending the
maternal and child health (MCH) department in Bossaso General Hospital (BGH) using an
interview-administered questionnaire and malaria diagnosis confirmation, which was done on
microscope-based laboratory techniques. The collected data were entered and cleaned using Epi
INFO version 7, then the data was exported into Statistical Package for the Social Sciences
(SPSS) version 25 for analysis. Both bivariable and multivariable logistic regression models
were employed. Variables having p-value < 0.25 were included in the final multivariable model.
Variables having p-values < 0.05 from the multivariable model were considered to be
significantly associated with the dependent variable. The adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with its 95%
confidence interval (CI) was used to measure association.
Results: Of the total 406 pregnant women who participated in this study, 20.9% [95%CI (15.9%,
25.9%)] were found to have malaria. Of these, 64 (75.3%), 19 (22.4%), and 2 (2.4%) were
caused by Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax, and mixed infection, respectively. The
factors like the presence of water pond sites around the house or vicinity [AOR= 6.5, 95% CI
(1.6, 20.5)] and always using insecticide-treated bed nets (ITNs) [AOR=0.1, 95%CI (0.01, 0.88)]
were found to be significantly associated with malaria during pregnancy.
Conclusion and recommendation: Malaria is still a health problem among pregnant women in
Bossaso city. The overall prevalence of malaria among pregnant women in the study area was
found to be (20.9%). This study emphasized the need to provide health education and
consultation to the pregnant women on the appropriate malaria preventive methods and
continued strengthening other interventions.
