CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of Study

 Malaria is a potentially deadly disease characterized by cyclical bouts of fever with muscle stiffness, shaking and sweating (WHO, 2000). Macleod (1998) also stated that malaria is a parasitic infection transmitted to humans through the bites of an infected female Anopheles mosquito. The name “malaria” is derived from the Italian words Mal (bad) and aria (air). It arose originally because the citizens of Rome thought that the disease was contracted by breathing the bad air of the Pontine Marshes (Garnham, 1966). Hornby (2007) defined malaria (ague, marsh fever, periodic fever, paludism) as an infectious disease due to the presence of parasitic Protozoa of the genus Plasmodium (P. falciparum, P. malariae, P. ovale or P. vivax) within the red blood cells. The disease is confined to tropical and subtropical areas. Malaria is one of the most prevalent diseases of the world. Current estimates predict over two hundred million cases annually. The number of clinical cases exceeds 150 million with approximately 2.3 million deaths, most of these victims are infants and young children. Over half of the worlds population lives in malarious areas (WHO, 2000; Okeke et al., 2006).  About 90% of all malaria deaths in the world today occur in Africa South of the Sahara. This is because the majority of infections is caused by Plasmodium falciparum, the most dangerous of the four malaria parasites. It is also because the most effective malaria vectors, the mosquito Anopheles gambiae is the most widespread in Africa and most difficult to control (WHO, 2000). Severe malaria is not readily distinguishable from other severe diseases such as typhoid, pneumonia, and meningitis which require very different therapy (WHO 2000). Toure et al. (2004) also estimated that between 300 and 500 million people are at risk. Irrespective of various malaria control programmes of WHO, UNICEF, Government of various nations, malaria had remained the most infectious and prevalent disease of the world. Various misconceptions in addition to drug resistance, insecticide resistance, misdiagnosis, ignorance and poverty are responsible for the failure of control programmes on malaria (Breman, 2001). The French Physician, Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran first identified the parasite under the microscope in 1880. Ronald Ross and Giovanni Grassi recognized the mosquito as malaria vector in 1897 (Good, 2001). However, despite enormous and diverse efforts to control this disease, malaria is among the top three most deadly communicable diseases and the most deadly tropical parasitic disease today (Sachs and Malaney, 2002). Worldwide, great and varied efforts are being  made to learn about this disease and to determine how to control it. This is a formidable task. The official malaria eradication programme, run by world Heath Organization (WHO), was cancelled in the late 1960s because of growing difficulty given that the complex and persistent nature of this disease became increasingly obvious. A management strategy today includes the development of vaccines and chemotherapeutic agents, vector control, insecticides, education, bed nets and insecticide treated nets. Resistance to drugs by both the mosquito and the parasite is a growing obstacle in the battle against malaria. Combination therapy has been shown to increase the efficacy of combining drugs (Toure et al., 2004). Although the above efforts have been successful to varying degrees, approximately 500 million clinical cases of malaria are reported each year and mortality estimates range between 0.7 and 2.7 million. Most of these deaths are young children in sub-Saharan Africa, where malaria mortality is the highest, 90% of reported malaria - related deaths are children under the age of five (Gardner, 2002). However, the actual figure of illness, morbidity and mortality may be very different from those cited above. Accuracy is impeded by the fact that most malaria deaths occur at home, many cases are misdiagnosed and functional microscopes are not available to most clinics in the area (Greenwood and Mutabingwa, 2002). Unfortunately the disease burden is on the rise.

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

Malaria is one of the world’s top killer diseases, especially for the young children. Malaria has remained a major threat to public health and economic development in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Attempts  to  control or completely eradicate the disease have failed massively as a result of well-known resistance to drugs for the malaria parasite and to insecticides for the vector and the situation has become life-threatening. Though there is collaborative energy both at the international, national and individual level to fight the disease by developing vaccines and new drugs, no-one has produced any permanent result yet. In the field of science, education about understanding the disease has recorded a tremendous progress.

OBJECTIVES OF STUDY

1.To determine the prevalence of malaria among children in Esan north east local government area

2.To determine knowledge on prevention of malaria among parents\guardian in east north east local government area

3.To determine knowledge on control of malaria among parents in Esan north east local government area

4. To proffer solutions to the prevalence of mosquito in the study area

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. What is the prevalence of malaria among children in Esan north east local government area

2. What is knowledge on prevention of malaria among parents\guardian in east north east local government area

3.What is  knowledge on control of malaria among parents in Esan north east local government area

4. What is solutions to the prevalence of mosquito in the study area

SIGNIFICANCEOF STUDY

The study will be useful to community dwellers on knowledge on the prevention and control of malaria in the area

The study will also be of great importance to government on various ways to assist residents in rurals area on the provison of insectide for the prevention of malaria in esan north east local government.

SCOPE OF STUDY

The study was majorly aim at studying the prevalence of malaria among children in esan north east local government area, Edo state.

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