PREVALENCE AND ASSOCIATION OF MALARIA AND ANEMIA AMONG PATIENTS VISITING ALABA HEALTH CENTER, ALABA KULITO TOWN, SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA

Malaria is a vector-borne infectious disease caused by protozoan parasites of the genus Plasmodium. It is ranked as the leading communicable disease in Ethiopia; it accounting to 17% of all outpatient visits in 2011/2012.The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and association of malaria and anemia among patients visiting Alaba Health Center, Alaba Kulito town Southern Ethiopia. The study was a Health Center based cross sectional survey and conducted from November to December 2015. Blood sample were collected from 384 participates and used for determination of malaria and anemia. Malaria detection and identification of Plasmodium species were based on microscopic examination of thick and thin Giemsa stained blood film. Determination of the hemoglobin concentration was carried out using portable hematology analyzer (Mission Hb). Moreover, structured questionnaires were used to access socio demographic characteristics participants and risk factor in relation to malaria. SPSS version (16) software was used to analyze the data and chi square test was calculated to determine association between malaria and anemia . The overall prevalence of malaria and anemia were found to be 43(11.2%) and 87 (22.65%) respectively. Major Plasmodium species detected were P. vivax and P. falciparium with the prevalence of 38(9.9%) and 5 (1.3%) respectively. Prevalence of malaria was high among male 25 (16.3%) and anemia 64 (27.7%) among female and high 13 (19.1%) prevalence of malaria and anemia 44(24.2%) obtained in age groups of