Prevalence Of Malaria Among Pregnant Women Attending Kitebi Health Centre III, Kampala District.

Abstract

ABSTRACT

Background: Malaria is a major public health problem affecting between 250 million people globally every year. In endemic areas, approximately 25 million pregnancies are at risk of Plasmodium falciparum infection every year, and 25% of these women have evidence of placental infection at the time of delivery Objective: The main objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of malaria among pregnant women attending Kitebi Health Centre III Kampala district, Uganda. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out among consenting pregnant

women attending antenatal from Kitebi health centre III in November 2021. Self- administered questionnaires were used to obtain socio-demographic and knowledge

assessment data . Blood was examined for malaria parasites using Malaria RDTs. Data was entered in Excel and analyzed using Stata ver.13 using univariate and bi variate analysis. Results: The overall prevalence of malaria among pregnant women attending Kitebi Health Center was 19.8% (16/81). None of the socio-demographic factors was associated with malaria prevalence except Tribe where malaria prevalence was high among the Basoga 68.75%(11/16) (p<0.001). Majority of the study participants knew use of intermittent preventive treatment (IPT) 87.65% (71 /81) and mosquito net use 75% (61/81) as the most effective ways of malaria prevention among pregnant women. Recommendations: Mothers should be encouraged to start antenatal as early as first

trimester and they should be educated about the importance and proper use of mosquito bed- nets and IPT.

Conclusion: The prevalence of malaria among pregnant women was high. Majority of the social demographics were not associated with Malaria prevalence. Participants knew that Intermittent preventive treatment (IPT) and mosquito net use as the most effective ways of malaria prevention among pregnant women.