PREVALENCE, INTENSITY AND CLINICAL PROFILE OF MALARIA AMONG PREGNANT WOMEN ATTENDING ANTENATAL CLINICS IN ONITSHA-NORTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, ANAMBRA STATE, SOUTHERN NIGERIA

A study to determine the prevalence, intensity and clinical profile of pregnant women attending antenatal clinics in Onitsha-North Local Government Area, Anambra State Nigeria was carried out in four hospitals between May and September, 2013. A total of 200 blood samples were collected from systematically selected pregnant women. Malaria parasites were examined microscopically on thick and thin blood smear stained with Giemsa stain from each. Personal data were collected both orally and from maternity records of the women, analyzed using chi-square test. The results showed that of 200 pregnant women sampled in the study 116(58.0%) were positive for malaria parasites. Two Plasmodia species were encountered: Plasmodium falciparum (53.0%) and P. vivax (5.0%). The highest prevalence and intensity of malaria parasites (19.5% and 11.5% respectively) were found in those aged 21-25 years while the lowest prevalence and intensity (7.5% and 2.0% respectively) occurred in those aged 41 years and above. The highest prevalence (26.0%) of malaria were observed among those in primigravidae but least in those in multigravidae (12.5%).Mild infection was observed highest among those in primigravidae (16.5%) but least (8.0%) among those in multigravidae. Moderate infection followed the same trend, being highest (9.0%) in primigravidae and least in multigravidae (4.5%). Women in their first trimester were more infected (21.0%) than those in second trimester (19.0%) and third trimester (18.0%). The study demonstrated a high prevalence of malaria in the population evaluated, therefore it is important to develop coherent and effective policies and tools to tackle malaria and poverty.