No less than 65 per cent of pregnant women in Port Harcourt have
malaria in their system even though they seem to be well, a situation
portending danger both for them and their unborn babies, a study has
found.
Researchers in a study that involved 210 women who delivered at
University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Port Harcourt found
many of these women had malaria parasite in their blood samples. A
higher amount of malaria parasite was however found in mothers with
their first pregnancies and those that refused taking prophylactic
malaria medicine.
The study, which reported that many of the women do not sleep under
insecticide treated nets (ITN), found that malaria parasite infested
placental was associated with a 2.6-fold increased risk of such women
developing anaemia in pregnancy.
In addition, they found that 31.9 per cent of the pregnant women had
mild anaemia, suggesting that "Poor nutrition and poverty were
unlikely causes of anemia in the study population as most of the women
that took part in this study had tertiary level of education and were
of middle or upper socioeconomic class."
Although this study demonstrated that women with their first pregnancy
are 5.6 times more likely to have malaria parasite in the placenta of
their unborn babies than women already with previous pregnancy, the
researchers stressed the need to educate women more on the role of
ITNs in preventing malaria as a way of reducing incidence of malaria
infection.
They declared: "Furthermore, government should intensify efforts in
ensuring that ITNs are readily available at all health facilities and
ITNs should be distributed to all antenatal women at booking in order
to encourage its utilisation."
The study was entitled "Prevalence of placenta Plasmodium parasitemia
and pregnancy outcome in asymptomatic patients at delivery in a
university teaching hospital in Nigeria."
It was done by G Bassey, TK Nyengidiki, CT John, all from the
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Port Harcourt
Teaching Hospital, Port Harcourt, Rivers State and published in the
2015 edition of the Nigerian Journal of Clinical Practice.
Malaria infection is a major public health problem in sub-Saharan
Africa, especially in pregnancy due to its attendant problems such as
anaemia that could predispose to small size babies, premature delivery
and even stillbirth, in the worst scenario.
One of the targets of the millennium development goal (MDG) 6 is to
reduce by 50 per cent the prevalence of malaria in malaria endemic
areas by 2015. This target of the MDG is far from being achieved in
sub-Saharan Africa due to the high prevalence of poverty, poor
nutrition, illiteracy, and poor health care delivery.
Successful control of malaria in pregnant women is a major step in
curbing the burden of malaria in Africa. Control of malaria in
pregnancy involves preventing infection as well as clearing the
parasite in the blood stream when it occurs.
World Health Organisation's preventive measures for malaria include
keeping a clean environment, use of insecticide-treated nets (ITN),
intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy using
sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) and effective case management of both
complicated and uncomplicated cases.
malaria in their system even though they seem to be well, a situation
portending danger both for them and their unborn babies, a study has
found.
Researchers in a study that involved 210 women who delivered at
University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Port Harcourt found
many of these women had malaria parasite in their blood samples. A
higher amount of malaria parasite was however found in mothers with
their first pregnancies and those that refused taking prophylactic
malaria medicine.
The study, which reported that many of the women do not sleep under
insecticide treated nets (ITN), found that malaria parasite infested
placental was associated with a 2.6-fold increased risk of such women
developing anaemia in pregnancy.
In addition, they found that 31.9 per cent of the pregnant women had
mild anaemia, suggesting that "Poor nutrition and poverty were
unlikely causes of anemia in the study population as most of the women
that took part in this study had tertiary level of education and were
of middle or upper socioeconomic class."
Although this study demonstrated that women with their first pregnancy
are 5.6 times more likely to have malaria parasite in the placenta of
their unborn babies than women already with previous pregnancy, the
researchers stressed the need to educate women more on the role of
ITNs in preventing malaria as a way of reducing incidence of malaria
infection.
They declared: "Furthermore, government should intensify efforts in
ensuring that ITNs are readily available at all health facilities and
ITNs should be distributed to all antenatal women at booking in order
to encourage its utilisation."
The study was entitled "Prevalence of placenta Plasmodium parasitemia
and pregnancy outcome in asymptomatic patients at delivery in a
university teaching hospital in Nigeria."
It was done by G Bassey, TK Nyengidiki, CT John, all from the
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Port Harcourt
Teaching Hospital, Port Harcourt, Rivers State and published in the
2015 edition of the Nigerian Journal of Clinical Practice.
Malaria infection is a major public health problem in sub-Saharan
Africa, especially in pregnancy due to its attendant problems such as
anaemia that could predispose to small size babies, premature delivery
and even stillbirth, in the worst scenario.
One of the targets of the millennium development goal (MDG) 6 is to
reduce by 50 per cent the prevalence of malaria in malaria endemic
areas by 2015. This target of the MDG is far from being achieved in
sub-Saharan Africa due to the high prevalence of poverty, poor
nutrition, illiteracy, and poor health care delivery.
Successful control of malaria in pregnant women is a major step in
curbing the burden of malaria in Africa. Control of malaria in
pregnancy involves preventing infection as well as clearing the
parasite in the blood stream when it occurs.
World Health Organisation's preventive measures for malaria include
keeping a clean environment, use of insecticide-treated nets (ITN),
intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy using
sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) and effective case management of both
complicated and uncomplicated cases.
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