Malaria prevalence and associated additional risk factors among children under-five years who sleep under insecticide treated nets in Zambia

Background:Insecticide Treated Nets are one of the backbones of malaria prevention in Africa where the vector mosquitos bite at night and prefer humans for feeding. Children who sleep under Insecticide Treated Nets though protected still get malaria infections. This study aimed to assess the risk factors of malaria infection among under-five childrenwhosleepunderinsecticide-treatedTreated Nets. Methodology:This was a secondary analysis of a cross-sectional survey the Malaria Indicator survey of 2021 in Zambia. Data was extracted from the database at the Ministry of Health and analysed in STATAversion 14. Data was analysed in counts and frequencies,cross-tabulations andassociationsassessed using logistic regressing using complex data analysis.Results:Atotal of 1695 children aged below five years who had slept under an Insecticide Treated Net the night before the survey were included in the study, 50.9% were female while 49.1 were male. Over a third of them (23.9%) had a fever in the previous two weeks, over half 51.9% of them had anaemia and 28.8% of them had malaria infection tested using Rapid Diagnostic tests. There was a 3.46 (95%CI 2.67 ­ 4.49) increase in the odds of having malaria ifthe under-five child was anaemic (haemoglobin less than 11mg/dl). Other factors that are usually associated with malaria infection such as younger age group, low socio-economic status, residing in rural areas and having had a fever in the previous two weeks. Conclusion:In Zambia, about a third of under-five children who slept under insecticide-treated nets still had evidence of malaria infection. Asignificant risk factor for malaria infection among the under-five children who slept under ITNs was anaemia. Other known risk factors for malaria among under-five children such as age, rural residence, wealth status, province of residence and education of guardians were not statistically significant.

Factors associated with anaemia in under-five children in Zambia: Secondary analysis of the 2021 Malaria Indicator Survey Data

Introduction:Anaemia is one of the major public health concerns in many developing countries including Zambia. Unless it is acute, the consequences of anaemia are not immediate but have long-term debilitating effects such as growth and intellectual retardation and as such it does not receive the necessary attention it deserves. This study set out to assess the prevalence and associated factors of anaemia in under-five children in Zambia. Methods:This study was a secondary analysis of the 2021 Malaria Indicator Survey. We extracted data from the data sets at the National Malaria Elimination Centre after obtaining permission from the Ministry of Health. The extracted data was analysed in STATA14, summarised in frequencies, cross-tabulations between independent variables and the outcome and multivariable logistic regression was used to assess the associations between variables and anaemia. Findings:The prevalence of anaemia was found to be 53.8%. Anaemia was found to be associated more with children below one year compared to older children, children whose household heads had no or only have primary education compared to those with secondary or tertiary education and in the northern parts of the country such as Luapula and Northern provinces compared to the southern province. Further anaemia was more common in those with malaria than those without malaria and those with febrile illnesses than those without febrile illnesses. In addition, anaemia was less common in those who slept under insecticide-treated nets. Conclusion: Anaemia in Zambia has been found to be higher than the average in Southern Africa, it is associated with younger age groups, poverty conditions and where diseases like malaria and other febrile illnesses are more common than where they are not. The use of interventions like insecticide-treated nets is associated with reduced prevalence of anaemia.

Overweight and its associated risk factors among students in tertiary institutions of learning in Mongu District of Western Province, Zambia; A cross-sectional survey

Background: Overweight and obesity are key public health issues in many high-income countries and have become a major public health concern affecting all ages, including adolescents in low-income and middle-income countries. This study determined the prevalence of overweight and obesity and their associated factors among undergraduate students at colleges and universities in the Mongu district of the Western Province of Zambia. Methods: This was across-sectional study. Undergraduate students aged 18 to 26 years were sampled from two colleges and one university in Mongu. Data was collected electronically by trained research assistants using a structured questionnaire. using Kobo Collect software. Data was analysed using Stata version 14 software. The analysis included descriptive statistics, using counts,frequencies ,percentages, means and medians depending on the distribution of the data. Chi-squared tests of association, bivariate, and multivariate logistic regression were done to test for association between overweight and independent variables. Ap-value less than 0.05 was considered significant. Results:Atotal of 330 students were captured in the survey; over half of the respondents were female students 214 (64.85%), while 116 (35.15%) were male respondents. Body Mass Index (BMI) showed that 21 (6.8%) were underweight, 208 (63.0%) had normal weight, 76 (23.0%) were overweight, and 25 (7.6%)wereobese.Factorsassociatedwithoverweight and obesity included female sex a OR 1.68 (95%CI 1.02 ­ 2.76), age and alcohol intake. Conclusions:Athird of the students were either overweight or obese. Sex, age and alcohol intake were significantly associated with overweight and obesityamongstudents.Theprevalenceofoverweight and obesity is high among young adults, and this calls for early interventions in learning institutions to combat obesity.