American Journal of Pediatrics

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Burden of Malaria in Children Presenting with Anaemia at Ola During’s Children’s Hospital in Freetown Sierra Leone

Received: 11 March 2019    Accepted: 20 May 2019    Published: 13 June 2019
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Abstract

Malaria is a serious public health problem in sub-Saharan Africa, where it affects entire populations especially children. Indeed over 80% of the worldwide cases of malaria occur in Africa. Anemia secondary to malaria is much more common in younger children, with high mortality rates. Malaria is endemic throughout Sierra Leone and it is often associated with haemoglobin level below 8.0 grams per decilitre in malaria-endemic regions such as Sierra Leone. Sixteen percent of children age 6-59 months in Sierra Leone had a haemoglobin count lower than 8.0 g/dl. The aim of this study was to describe the burden of malaria in children aged one to five years presenting with Anaemia at Ola During children’s Hospital (ODCH) in Freetown Sierra Leone. This study was a hospital-based descriptive cross-sectional study, carried out over a period of two months. Data obtained from the study was analyzed using descriptive statistics, where discrete variables were summarized using frequencies and percentages; continuous variables were summarized using measures of central tendency such as mean, median, mode and standard deviation; while measures of association were analyzed using chi square. Eighty-eight percent of the children in this study had anaemia, mean hemoglobin concentration of enrolled children was 6.9g/dl Fifty-seven-point two percent of the study population had positive blood slide for malaria and the only plasmodium specie detected was plasmodium falciparum. Only 53% of the study population slept under insecticide treated bed nets Parents and caregivers with no formal education were as much as 11.8%. A little over a quarter of the parents/caregivers earned less than 200,000leones which is equivalent to < 50USD.

DOI 10.11648/j.ajp.20190502.16
Published in American Journal of Pediatrics (Volume 5, Issue 2, June 2019)
Page(s) 70-73
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Malaria, Children, Anaemia Burden

References
[1] Policarpo Ncogo, Maria Romay, Agustin Benito, Pilar Aparicio, Gloria Nseng, Pedro Berzosa, Maria A. Santana-Morales, Matilde Riloha, Basilio Valladares, Zaida Herrador Prevalence of Malaria and associated factors in children living in urban and rural settings from Bata districts, Equitorial Guinea, PLoS One. 2017; 12 (5): e0176613.
[2] World Health Organization (WHO). World malaria report 2017www.who.int/malaria.
[3] Sierra Leone Demographic and Health Survey 2013: 12.
[4] Nicolas J White Anaemia and Malaria Malaria Journal 2018; 17: 371.
[5] Zeukeng F, Tchinda VH, Bjgoga JD, et al. co-infections of malaria and geo-helminthiasis in two rural communities in Cameroon; PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2014 oct; 16; 8 (10): e3236.
[6] Price RN, Simpson JA, Nosten F, et al. Factors contributing to anaemia after uncomplicated falciparum malaria. Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg. 2001; 65: 614-622.
[7] Kining’hi SM, Magnussen P, Kaatano GM, et al. Malaria and helminth co-infections in school and preschool children. PLoS One, 2014 Jan 29; 9 (1): e86510.
[8] Lyke KE, Burges R, Cissoko Y, et al. Serum levels of the proinflammatory cytokines interleukin-1 beta (IL-1beta), IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, tumor necrosis factor alpha, and IL-12 (p70) in Malian children with severe Plasmodium falciparum malaria and matched uncomplicated malaria or healthy controls. Infect. Immun. 2004; 72: 5630–5637.
[9] Smithson P, Florey L, Salgado S, et al. Impact of malaria control on mortality and anemia among Tanzanian children less than five years of age, 1999-2010; PLOS One, 2015; 10 (11): e0141112.
[10] Nalley Joy Chinwe, George Innocent Ocheyana, Opara Peace Ibo, Yaguo-Ide Lucy Eberechukwu The Use of Insecticide Treated Bed Net in Children Under Five Years of Age in Alakahia Community, Rivers State American Journal of Pediatrics 2017; 3 (5): 32-41.).
[11] Vanden J, Thwing J, Wolkon A, Kulkarni AM, Manga A, Erskine M, et al. Assessing bed net use and non- use after long lasting insecticide net distribution: a simple framework to guide programmatic strategies. Malar J 2010; 9: 133-42.
[12] https://knoea.com/atlas/Sierra-Leone/topics/Education/Literacy/Adult-literacy-rate.
Author Information
  • Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Port Harcourt, Nigeria

  • Department of Paediatrics, College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences, University of Sierra Leone, Freetown, Sierra Leone

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    Yaguo Ide Lucy Eberechukwu, Lannes Namusa Susan Kamara. (2019). Burden of Malaria in Children Presenting with Anaemia at Ola During’s Children’s Hospital in Freetown Sierra Leone. American Journal of Pediatrics, 5(2), 70-73. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajp.20190502.16

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    Yaguo Ide Lucy Eberechukwu; Lannes Namusa Susan Kamara. Burden of Malaria in Children Presenting with Anaemia at Ola During’s Children’s Hospital in Freetown Sierra Leone. Am. J. Pediatr. 2019, 5(2), 70-73. doi: 10.11648/j.ajp.20190502.16

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    AMA Style

    Yaguo Ide Lucy Eberechukwu, Lannes Namusa Susan Kamara. Burden of Malaria in Children Presenting with Anaemia at Ola During’s Children’s Hospital in Freetown Sierra Leone. Am J Pediatr. 2019;5(2):70-73. doi: 10.11648/j.ajp.20190502.16

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajp.20190502.16,
      author = {Yaguo Ide Lucy Eberechukwu and Lannes Namusa Susan Kamara},
      title = {Burden of Malaria in Children Presenting with Anaemia at Ola During’s Children’s Hospital in Freetown Sierra Leone},
      journal = {American Journal of Pediatrics},
      volume = {5},
      number = {2},
      pages = {70-73},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajp.20190502.16},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajp.20190502.16},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajp.20190502.16},
      abstract = {Malaria is a serious public health problem in sub-Saharan Africa, where it affects entire populations especially children. Indeed over 80% of the worldwide cases of malaria occur in Africa. Anemia secondary to malaria is much more common in younger children, with high mortality rates. Malaria is endemic throughout Sierra Leone and it is often associated with haemoglobin level below 8.0 grams per decilitre in malaria-endemic regions such as Sierra Leone. Sixteen percent of children age 6-59 months in Sierra Leone had a haemoglobin count lower than 8.0 g/dl. The aim of this study was to describe the burden of malaria in children aged one to five years presenting with Anaemia at Ola During children’s Hospital (ODCH) in Freetown Sierra Leone. This study was a hospital-based descriptive cross-sectional study, carried out over a period of two months. Data obtained from the study was analyzed using descriptive statistics, where discrete variables were summarized using frequencies and percentages; continuous variables were summarized using measures of central tendency such as mean, median, mode and standard deviation; while measures of association were analyzed using chi square. Eighty-eight percent of the children in this study had anaemia, mean hemoglobin concentration of enrolled children was 6.9g/dl Fifty-seven-point two percent of the study population had positive blood slide for malaria and the only plasmodium specie detected was plasmodium falciparum. Only 53% of the study population slept under insecticide treated bed nets Parents and caregivers with no formal education were as much as 11.8%. A little over a quarter of the parents/caregivers earned less than 200,000leones which is equivalent to < 50USD.},
     year = {2019}
    }
    

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    AU  - Yaguo Ide Lucy Eberechukwu
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    AB  - Malaria is a serious public health problem in sub-Saharan Africa, where it affects entire populations especially children. Indeed over 80% of the worldwide cases of malaria occur in Africa. Anemia secondary to malaria is much more common in younger children, with high mortality rates. Malaria is endemic throughout Sierra Leone and it is often associated with haemoglobin level below 8.0 grams per decilitre in malaria-endemic regions such as Sierra Leone. Sixteen percent of children age 6-59 months in Sierra Leone had a haemoglobin count lower than 8.0 g/dl. The aim of this study was to describe the burden of malaria in children aged one to five years presenting with Anaemia at Ola During children’s Hospital (ODCH) in Freetown Sierra Leone. This study was a hospital-based descriptive cross-sectional study, carried out over a period of two months. Data obtained from the study was analyzed using descriptive statistics, where discrete variables were summarized using frequencies and percentages; continuous variables were summarized using measures of central tendency such as mean, median, mode and standard deviation; while measures of association were analyzed using chi square. Eighty-eight percent of the children in this study had anaemia, mean hemoglobin concentration of enrolled children was 6.9g/dl Fifty-seven-point two percent of the study population had positive blood slide for malaria and the only plasmodium specie detected was plasmodium falciparum. Only 53% of the study population slept under insecticide treated bed nets Parents and caregivers with no formal education were as much as 11.8%. A little over a quarter of the parents/caregivers earned less than 200,000leones which is equivalent to < 50USD.
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