Prevalence of malaria and associated factors among symptomatic pregnant women attending antenatal care at three health centers in north-west Ethiopia
Open accessAbstract
Background: Malaria is the disease caused by Plasmodium species and primarily transmitted by the bite of female Anopheles mosquitoes. During pregnancy, malaria causes life threatening outcomes to the mother, the fetus and the new born. Even though, malaria symptomatic pregnant women highly attract mosquitoes and have higher potential of transmitting the disease in communities, most of the previous studies focused on pregnant women with asymptomatic Plasmodium infections. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of malaria and associated factors among symptomatic pregnant women attending antenatal care at three health centers in northwest Ethiopia. Methods: A health facility based cross-sectional study was conducted from February to April, 2021. A total of 312 malaria symptomatic pregnant women were involved from three health centers and enrolled by convenient sampling technique. A questionnaire was used to collect socio demographic and clinical data through face to face interview. Capillary blood samples were collected and used to prepare thin and thick blood smears, which were then stained using 10% Giemsa and examined under light microscope. Logistic regression was used to assess factors associated with malaria. Adjusted odds ratio with 95% confidence interval was calculated and P-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The prevalence of malaria among symptomatic pregnant women was 20.8% (65/312) of which 12.2% (38/312), 4.8% (15/312) and 3.8% (12/312) were P. falciparum, P. vivax and mixed infections, respectively. Being illiterate (p< 0.001), first trimester (p = 0.036), primigravidae (p<0.001), living far from health center (p<0.001), not sleeping under long lasting insecticide treated nets (p<0.001) and living near irrigation areas (p = 0.006) were significantly associated with prevalence of malaria in malaria symptomatic pregnant women. Conclusions: Even though prevalence of malaria is decreasing in the country because of scale-up of intervention and prevention measures, this study showed that, malaria is still the major public health problem among pregnant women. Being illiterate, first trimester, primigravidae, living far from health centers, not sleeping under long lasting insecticide treated nets and living near irrigation areas were factors that increased the prevalence of malaria in malaria symptomatic pregnant women. Therefore, special attention should be given to pregnant women prone to these factors.
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The finding that Africa has the highest burden of malaria in pregnancy is in line with earlier studies in the region and the World Health Organization report.
“This is in line with studies conducted earlier in the region and the report presented by the World Health Organization [2, 18–20].”
From Malaria in pregnancy: Meta-analyses of prevalence and associated complications (2024) · cites this paper as [18]
The Background (page not provided) cites WHO figures showing that Africa accounted for most global malaria cases and deaths in 2019. The Results report malaria among symptomatic pregnant women in northwest Ethiopia, but the paper does not establish that Africa has the highest burden specifically of malaria in pregnancy compared with other regions. (LLM, conf=0.85)
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InfluentialEpidemiology of malaria in pregnant women attending antenatal consultation in Dschang, West Cameroon
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“18 This could be because of an improvement in the overall implementation of preventive measures against malaria.”
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“6 The presence of stagnant water has the potential to become a breeding site for Anopheles mosquitoes, especially in the rainy season.”
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- Authors
- Almaw, A., Yimer, M., Alemu, M., & Tegegne, B.
- Affiliations
- Debre Tabor University (ET)
- Bahir Dar University (ET)
- Amhara National Regional State Public Health Institute (ET)
- Corresponding author
- Almaw, Andargachew
- Venue
- PLOS ONE
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2022-04-07
- Volume
- 17
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- e0266477
- ISSN
- 1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC8989222
- OpenAlex
- W4225742486
- Cited by
- 27
- References
- 26
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 4
- FWCI
- 5.08
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Greater South Information System
- Funders
- Bahir Dar University
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Malaria Research and Control
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Global Maternal and Child Health
- Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Parasitology › Bird parasitology and diseases
- Keywords
- Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax, malaria prevalence, risk factors, prenatal care, long-lasting insecticidal nets, primigravida, first trimester, illiteracy, irrigation area, Northwest Ethiopia, malaria prevention and control, maternal and child health
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Cross-Sectional Studies, Ethiopia, Female, Humans, Insecticides, Malaria, Plasmodium, Pregnancy, Prenatal Care, Pregnancy Complications, Parasitic, Prevalence, Malaria, Falciparum, Malaria, Vivax, Pregnant People, Pregnant Women, Asymptomatic Infections
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