Factors Associated with Malaria in Pregnancy among Women Attending Antenatal Clinic at Dodowa District Hospital in the Greater Accra Region
Date
2019-07
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University Of Ghana
Abstract
Background: Malaria in pregnancy is a serious public health issue which affects the
mother, the fetus and the neonate. Adverse effects of malaria during pregnancy have been
known over the years, but effective preventive coverage of pregnancies at risks during
antenatal care and factors associated with malaria in pregnancy have been underreported
in malaria-endemic countries. The objective of this study was to determine the factors
associated with malaria during pregnancy among pregnant women attending antenatal
clinic at Dodowa District Hospital in the Greater Accra Region.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was used among 270 pregnant women attending the
antenatal clinic during the study period. Pregnant women of all gravidities and gestations
were interviewed from 1st June to 24th June 2019 using simple random sampling method
with structured questionnaires to obtain sociodemographic, obstetric and knowledge
profiles. Peripheral blood samples were taken to determine the presence of malaria using
Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT). Chi-square test was used to assess the association between
malaria and other explanatory variables. Logistic regression was used to determine the
strength of association for variables which were statistically significant under the chisquare
test statistical significance was set at p< 0.05.
Results: Out of the total of 270 study participants, (30/270)11.1% (95%CI= 0.08, 0.15)
had malaria infection among participants attending the antenatal clinic. Maternal age,
marital status, occupation, religion, number of pregnancies, ITN use, number of antenatal
visits, and knowledge of malaria, IPT-sp, and IRS were not statistically significant in the
multiple regression models.
Conclusion: Malaria prevalence was low among the pregnant women studied. Age,
gravidity, education level, occupation, gestation, IPT-sp use and ITN use were not significantly associated with malaria infection (p≥0.05). Continuous scale-up of malaria
intervention as recommended by World Health Organization (WHO).
Description
MPH.
Keywords
Malaria, Pregnancy, Dodowa District Hospital, Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT)