Magnitude of urban malaria and its associated risk factors: the case of Batu town, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to assess the magnitude of malaria and its associated risk factors in urban, Batu town, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia.

METHODS

This health-facility based prospective cross-sectional study enrolled 356 febrile malaria patients to assess risk factors associated with malaria infection.

RESULTS

An overall positivity rate of 17.13% (61/356) for malaria infection was observed. Among the malaria-positive patients, 50.8% (31/61) of them were positive for Plasmodium vivax, 45.90% (28/61) were positive for Plasmodium falciparum, and 3.3% (2/61) had mixed infections of P. falciparum and P. vivax. Logistic regression analysis revealed that individuals who possessed insecticide-treated net (Odds ratio [OR] = 0.38, 95% confidence interval [CI] [0.194, 0.743]) and whose houses were sprayed with insecticides (OR = 0.18, 95% CI [0.097, 0.34]) were significantly less likely to have a malaria infection. Individuals living closer to stagnant water had a significantly greater chance of malaria infection than those who lived a distance from stagnant water (OR = 0.34, 95% CI [0.19, 0.59]).

CONCLUSION

The present study revealed that malaria remains a public health problem in the urban area of Batu town, which suggests that the same might be true for other urban areas in the country.