Malaria Prevalence and Anemia Status of Children Attending a Health Facility in Yola

Background: Malaria and anemia among children especially those that are <5 years of age are still diseases of public health concern. This study was designed to determine the effect of malaria on the anaemia status of under five children attending a health facility in Yola, Adamawa state, Nigeria.

Methods: Blood samples were collected from out-patient under five children reporting at the paediatric unit of the hospital. The blood samples were screened for the presence of malaria parasites by microscopy while their anaemia status was determined by checking their packed cell volume (PCV). The prevalence rate of malaria, anemia, and malaria-anemia was calculated. The level of significance was determined using chi-square (χ2) statistics.

Results: Of the 200 samples, 124 (62%) were positive for malaria, with the prevalence being higher in males. 103 of the patients had PCV values below 33% giving an overall anaemia prevalence of 51.5% of anemia cases. The results obtained show that the three forms of anaemia – mild, moderate and severe were seen in the sampled population with moderate anaemia being the most prevalent (29.0%); the results also show that malaria parasite density has an effect on the PCV levels of the children at p= .0001, and patients with severe anaemia had the highest parasite loads.

Conclusion: Malaria remains a common infection among under five children in this environment and predisposes them to having anaemia. Moderate malaria is also the most common form of anaemia seen in malaria positive children.