Prevalence and trend of malaria with anaemia among under-five children in Jasikan District, Ghana

BackgroundMalaria still remains a major killer of children under-five, claiming the life of one child every two minutes globally. More than 78% of deaths among children under-five in Africa are as a result of malaria infection. Despite the several interventions to reduce malaria and anaemia, the disease remains a global public concern as more children continue to die. This study assessed the prevalence and trend of malaria and anaemia in children under-five years from 2012 to 2016. MethodsWe conducted a descriptive cross-sectional study among children under-five with malaria and anaemia who received care at the hospital in Jasikan town, Ghana from 2012 to 2016. Data were extracted from the childrens ward admission and discharge registers. We computed descriptive statistics to describe the data. STATA version 14 was used to carry out the analyses. ResultsOut of 30082 malaria cases, 835 were with anaemia from 2012 to 2016. This study demonstrated an overall proportion of malaria with anaemia as 0.028 (28 per 1000 malaria cases). Year 2014 recorded the highest proportion (38 per 1,000 malaria cases) of malaria with anaemia cases in the district. Overall, prevalence rate of malaria and anaemia cases separately was found as 61.5% and 4.4% respectively from 2012-2016. Children within 24-35 months age group contributed the highest (28.3%) and 0-11 months accounted for the lowest (12.9%) malaria with anaemia cases. Majority of malaria with anaemia cases 531 (63.6%) occurred in the rainy season from June to July. ConclusionThere is a high prevalence of malaria with anaemia cases among children under-five from 2012-2016. Age and seasonal variation were found to be predictors of an increase in the prevalence of malaria with anaemia.