1
|
Nega D, Abera A, Gidey B, Mekasha S, Abebe A, Dillu D, Mehari D, Assefa G, Hailu S, Haile M, Etana K, Solomon H, Tesfaye G, Nigatu D, Destaw Z, Tesfaye B, Serda B, Yeshiwondim A, Getachew A, Teka H, Nahusenay H, Abdelmenan S, Reda H, Bekele W, Zewdie A, Tollera G, Assefa A, Tasew G, Woyessa A, Abate E. Baseline malaria prevalence at the targeted pre-elimination districts in Ethiopia. BMC Public Health 2021; 21:1996. [PMID: 34732150 PMCID: PMC8567662 DOI: 10.1186/s12889-021-12036-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2021] [Accepted: 10/18/2021] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Encouraged by the previous success in malaria control and prevention strategies, the Ethiopian ministry of health launched malaria elimination with a stepwise approach by primarily targeting the low-transmission Districts and their adjacent areas/zones in order to shrink the country’s malaria map progressively. Hence, this community survey was conducted to establish baseline malaria information at the preliminary phase of elimination at targeted settings. Methods A community-based cross-sectional survey was conducted at 20 malaria-elimination targeted Districts selected from five Regional states and one city administration in Ethiopia. The GPS-enabled smartphones programmed with Open Data Kit were used to enumerate 9326 study households and collect data from 29,993 residents. CareStart™ Malaria PAN (pLDH) Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs) were used for blood testing at the field level. Armpit digital thermometers were used to measure axillary temperature. Result Overall malaria prevalence by RDTs was 1.17% (339/28973). The prevalence at District levels ranged from 0.0 to 4.7%. The proportion of symptomatic cases (axillary temperature > 37.5oc) in the survey was 9.2% (2760/29993). Among the 2510 symptomatic individuals tested with RDTs, only 3.35% (84/2510) were malaria positive. The 75.2% (255/339) of all malaria positives were asymptomatic. Of the total asymptomatic malaria cases, 10.2% (26/255) were under-five children and 89.8% (229/255) were above 5 years of age. Conclusion The study shows a decrease in malaria prevalence compared to the reports of previous malaria indicator surveys in the country. The finding can be used as a baseline for measuring the achievement of ongoing malaria elimination efforts. Particularly, the high prevalence of asymptomatic individuals (0.88%) in these transmission settings indicates there may be sustaining hidden transmission. Therefore, active case detection with more sensitive diagnostic techniques is suggested to know more real magnitude of residual malaria in the elimination-targeted areas.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Desalegn Nega
- Ethiopian Public Health Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
| | - Adugna Abera
- Ethiopian Public Health Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | | | - Sindew Mekasha
- Ethiopian Public Health Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Abnet Abebe
- Ethiopian Public Health Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Dereje Dillu
- Federal Ministry of Health, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Degu Mehari
- Federal Ministry of Health, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | | | - Samuel Hailu
- Federal Ministry of Health, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | | | - Kebede Etana
- Federal Ministry of Health, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | | | | | | | - Zelalem Destaw
- Ethiopian Public Health Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Berhane Tesfaye
- Malaria Control and Elimination Partnership in Africa (MACEPA) at PATH, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Belendia Serda
- Malaria Control and Elimination Partnership in Africa (MACEPA) at PATH, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Asnakew Yeshiwondim
- Malaria Control and Elimination Partnership in Africa (MACEPA) at PATH, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Assefaw Getachew
- Malaria Control and Elimination Partnership in Africa (MACEPA) at PATH, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Hiwot Teka
- President's Malaria Initiative (PMI), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | | | | | - Hailemariam Reda
- Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (CHAI), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Worku Bekele
- World Health Organization (WHO), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Ayele Zewdie
- Addis Continental Institute of Public Health, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | | | | | - Geremew Tasew
- Ethiopian Public Health Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Adugna Woyessa
- Ethiopian Public Health Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Ebba Abate
- Ethiopian Public Health Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| |
Collapse
|