2023/11/04 by Kenea, Oljira, Zekariyas, Tola
#Gidami District #Gidami General Hospital #Malaria Prevalence #Malaria Trend
paper · doi:10.20372/star.v11i2.01
Gidami district is one of the stable malaria-endemic borderline districts in western Ethiopia. However, a case trend of malaria among patients visiting health care systems in the district had not been investigated before this work was carried out. This study aims to assess a six-year trend in malaria case prevalence at Gidami General Hospital (GGH). The study covers malaria case trend analysis from 2016–2021 using data obtained from the hospital's log book. Results show that a total of 401 malaria cases in 2016, 701 in 2017, 61 in 2018, 45 in 2019, 37 in 2020, and 29 in 2021 were recorded at GGH. The highest number of malaria cases, 701 (55.02%), was recorded in 2017, and the lowest, 29 (2.28%), was recorded in 2021. The malaria trend over the last six years has shown a decreasing pattern of cases in consecutive years, except cases due to malaria, which showed a sharp increase in number in 2017. The major plasmodium parasite investigated in the study area was P. falciparum, followed by P. vivax. Individuals between the ages of 26 and 35 were significantly more affected than those under 18 years old, 18–25 years old, and above 36 years old. Males had a higher malaria prevalence case rate compared to females. Community-based house-to-house longitudinal studies of malaria active cases are critical for understanding the temporal and spatial distribution of the disease and for effective interventional planning in the study setting.