Malariometric Survey of Ibeshe Community in Ikorodu, Lagos State: Dry Season

Abstract

Malariometric surveys generate data on malaria epidemiology and dynamics of transmission necessary for planning and monitoring of control activities. This study determined the prevalence of malaria and the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) towards malaria infection in Ibeshe, a coastal community. The study took place during the dry season in 10 villages of Ibeshe. All the participants were screened for malaria. A semistructured questionnaire was used to capture sociodemographic data and KAP towards malaria. A total of 1489 participants with a mean age of 26.7±20.0 years took part in the study. Malaria prevalence was 14.7% (95% CI 13.0–16.6%) with geometric mean density of 285 parasites/μL. Over 97% of participants were asymptomatic. Only 40 (2.7%) of the participants were febrile, while 227 (18.1%) were anemic. Almost all the participants (95.8%) identified mosquito bite as a cause of malaria, although multiple agents were associated with the cause of malaria. The commonest symptoms associated with malaria were hot body (89.9%) and headache (84.9%). Window nets (77.0%) were preferred to LLIN (29.6%). Malaria is mesoendemic in Ibeshe during the dry season. The participants had good knowledge of symptoms of malaria; however, there were a lot of misconceptions on the cause of malaria.