Comparison of Malaria Parasitaemia Among Children Less Than Five Years Living with HIV and those Without HIV in Health Facilities in Jos, Nigeria.
ABSTRACT
Malaria and HIV are among the two most important diseases that pose a great challenge to human health. In Nigeria malaria contributes significantly to the burden of disease especially among children less than five years.
Despite all efforts aimed at prevention and control of malaria, its prevalence is still relatively high in Jos.
This study was therefore conducted to determine the prevalence and circulating species of malaria parasites in under fives as well as assessing the factors associated with malaria parasitaemia among HIV positive and HIV negative under five children in selected health facilities in Jos.
A comparative cross sectional study was conducted among children less than five years living with HIV and those without HIV. Blood specimen was collected and tested for malaria parasitaemia by microscopy and RDT.
Haemoglobin estimation was carried out and CD4% determined for children living with HIV. Structured questionnaire was used to obtain demographic information and potential factors associated with malaria parasitaemia.
A total of 528 children less than 5 years old were enrolled, 264 were living with HIV while the other half were HIV negative. The mean age (± standard deviation) of children living with HIV was 40.6 (± 13.7) months, while the mean age (± standard deviation) of children less than 5 years who are HIV negative was 28.7 (± 14.2) months.
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background Information
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease. It is the 3rd leading cause of death for children under five years of age (U5) worldwide, after pneumonia and diarrheal disease.
Globally, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that in 2010, 216 million clinical cases of malaria occurred, and 655,000 people died of malaria, 86% of them were children in Africa.
Two to four episodes of malaria have being reported to occur annually among children less than 5 years.3 Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, and Uganda accounts for nearly 50% of the global malaria deaths.
Almost 1 out of 5 deaths of children U5 in Africa is due to malaria. In Nigeria malaria accounts for 60 percent of outpatient visits to health facilities, and 30 percent hospitalization.
The National Malaria Control Program reported that 30 percent U5 mortality is attributable to malaria infection in Nigeria.
Malaria has the greatest prevalence, close to 50%, in children aged 6-59 months in the South West, North Central and North West regions of the country.
It is estimated that about 40 million people are living with HIV worldwide, of these 2.3 million are children under the age of five.
REFERENCES
World Health Organization: Africa Malaria Report 2003. [Online] 2003, [http://rbm.who.int/amd2003/amr2003/ch1.htm]. Geneva: World Health Organization Accessed August 22, 2013
World Health Organization: World Malaria Report. Geneva: WHO; 2010.Accessed August 23, 2013
Snow RW, Guerra CA, Noor AM, et al. The global distribution of clinical episodes of Plasmodium falciparum Nature, 2005; 434: 214-217
The Roll Back Malaria Partnership Roll Back Malaria. Malaria and children. [Online] 2002 Geneva: World Health Organization [http://www.rbm.who.int/cmc_upload/0/000/ 015/367/RBMInfosheet_6.htm]. Accessed August 23, 2013
World Health Organization: World malaria report 2011. Geneva: WHO; 2011.Accessed August 23, 2013
Federal Ministry of Health. Strategic Plan 2009-2013; A Road Map for Malaria Control in Nigeria. Nigeria and National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP). Abuja, Nigeria.
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