The prevalence of malaria among children attending Nkoaranga Lutheran Hospital between June 2016- June, 2017

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate the prevalence of malaria in children at Nkoaranga Hospital. Malaria is a parasitic disease which kills many people each year, 75% of these are children. Our aim is to study malaria in children admitted at Nkoaranga Lutheran Hospital, which is remotely situated in the Meru district in Northern Tanzania. The study involved interviews. Respondents were selected through purposive sampling technique. The researcher visited the respective 100 respondents between December 2017 to January 2018 and collected data through interviews. After collection, data was organized and analyzed using SPSS. From December 2017 to January 2018 a total of 100 patients presented to the hospital with a history of fever, headache and body weakness. Of these attendants 44(44%) were included in this study, 21(48%) were women and 23(52%) were men. The results indicated that poverty contributed in a great percentage in the prevalence of malaria. It was concluded that large family size; domestic issues and tension among the family members; low socio-economic status and many more can make our societies more vulnerable. Based on the findings, it was recommended that parents should be educated on the importance of using insecticides treated bed nets and other preventive measures of Malaria