Malaria, anaemia and nutritional status among schoolchildren in relation to ecosystems, livelihoods and health systems in Kilosa District in central Tanzania

BMC Public Health

Research Article

Benjamin K. Mayala¹  Tabitha Mlacha¹  Susan F. Rumisha¹  Leonard E.G. Mboera¹  Grades Stanley¹  Robert C. Malima²  Veneranda M. Bwana²  Malongo R.S. Mlozi³ 

[1]National Institute for Medical Research Headquarters, P.O. Box 9653, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

[2]National Institute for Medical Research, Amani Research Centre, Muheza, Tanzania

[3]Sokoine University of Agriculture, Chuo Kikuu, Morogoro, Tanzania

关键词: Malaria;    Anaemia;    Nutritional status;    Children;    Ecosystems;    Livelihoods;    Tanzania;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12889-015-1932-x

 received in 2014-12-26, accepted in 2015-06-12,  发布年份 2015

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundMalaria prevalence and transmission intensity in Tanzania is heterogeneous with spatial and temporal variations between geographical areas and ecological systems. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of malaria, anaemia and nutritional status in relation to livelihoods, ecosystem and health systems in Kilosa District in central Tanzania.MethodsThis study was conducted in four villages, two characterised by rice irrigation ecosystem and the other two by dry savannah ecosystem and pastoral livelihoods. In each ecosystem, one of the villages had a healthcare facility. Schoolchildren were screened for malaria infection using malaria rapid diagnostic test (mRDT) and microscopy and they were assessed for their anaemia and nutritional statuses.ResultsA total of 1,019 school children (age = 4–16 years) were screened for malaria infection. The overall prevalence of Plasmodium falciparum infection was 10.6 % and 4.5 % by mRDT and microscopy, respectively. Children from pastoral villages had lower (2.9 %) prevalence of malaria than their counterparts (18.2 %) in the rice irrigation villages. A significantly high risk of malaria was observed among children in rice irrigation than in the pastoral ecosystem (OR: 0.13; 95%CI 0.07, 0.23). Children living in areas with health care facilities had a low odd of malaria infection by 45 % (OR: 0.55; 95 % CI = 0.35, 0.86). Overall, the prevalence of anaemia in the district was 43.4 % (n = 775); and 58.3 % of those with severe anaemia were among children from the pastoral villages. Anaemia was significantly higher among children not using mosquito nets (p = 0.049); and among those with malaria infection (p <0.001). The majority (96 %) of the children had Body Mass Index less than 18.5 kg/m2 which indicate high proportion of underweight.ConclusionThere are significant variations in the risk of acquiring malaria infection between different ecosystems and livelihoods. These findings suggest that malaria control programmes must take into account ecosystems and livelihoods of the targeted population through an integrated management of malaria and nutrition approach.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Mboera et al. 2015