Factors Associated With Malaria Prevalence in Children under Five in Karamoja

Abstract

Uganda has a high malaria prevalence of 30% among children under five. This study was carried out with an objective of examining factors associated with malaria prevalence in children under five in Karamoja region, taking into consideration of other specific objectives like relationship between age of the parents, mosquito bed net usage, educational level of the mother, type of place of residence and malaria prevalence among children under five. The data was derived from the UDHS 2016 in the children’s category and it considered respondents from Karamoja region. A sample comprising 785 children under five was analyzed at both uni-variate and bi-variate levels considering variables such as; age of mothers, education level of the mother, marital status, occupation, mosquito bed net use, religion, residence, wealth status and sex of household head. This was done to determine their level of significance and association with malaria prevalence among children under five using the chi-square test and p-value. Results from the study show that majority of the respondents (53.76%) were aged 25-34 years, (87.77%) were from rural areas, (72.61%) had no education and (91.46%) belonged to the poor households. The highest proportion of respondents (58.85%) were under a male headed house, (75.16%) belonged to the catholic faith. However, the highest proportion of respondents (43.44%) reported that children under five slept under a mosquito bed net, (92.10%) were married, and (84.33%) belonged to the working category. At bi-variate analysis results show that education level of mother (X2=5.4149, p=0.144), marital status (X2=4.1775, p=0.124), type of place of residence (X2=0.4868, p=0.485), religion (X2=3.5944, 0.609), sex of household head (X2=0.5963, p=0.440), wealth index (X2=1.4098, p=0.494), children under five slept under mosquito net (X2=3.8638, p=0277) weren’t statistically significant with malaria prevalence among children under five. However, the results show that age of mothers (X2=9.8727, p=0.043), and occupation (X2=12.1286, p=0.000) were statistically significant in relation to malaria prevalence among children under five. Based on the findings of the study, the government should invest more in education especially in the rural parts of the country as this will help improve the literacy levels of people and embrace the importance of seeking quality health care for the children under five by mothers.