Perception and Prevalence of Malaria: A Case Study of Yola South LGA of Adamawa State

Abstract

Malaria has been a global public health problem and this has been proven by the recurrent world health reports which repeats obviously similar records of new cases of malaria in hundreds of millions every year and Africa has maintained the position of accounting for most global cases of malarial disease. Nigeria as a nation has suffered greatly from malaria and has caused a good record of death toll, treatment and prevention as well as loss of working hours. A study on prevalence and perception of  the locals in Yola South local government area of Adamawa State conducted and the study population was selected randomly, questionnaires were administered, verbal interview was carried out were necessary and the opinions of three hundred and sixteen persons were sampled out in the study area, a preliminary survey of mosquito breeding site carried out showed abundance of mosquito breeding sits in the study area and a microscopic examination of blood for malaria parasite infection was don using thick blood film. Total prevalence of malaria was found to be at (81.2%) in relation to sex, (80.8%) in relation to educational status and (81.7%) in relation to age and occupational status.  Self-medication and drug resistance to malaria treatment as well as inconsistent use of ITNS were some of the factors that hinders malaria control in the study area. Working towards solving these existing mitigating factors would be a great achievement in the trend of malaria control.