Prevalence of malaria and associated factors among febrile under five children in Bora district, East Shoa zone, Oromia, Ethiopia, 2024: Institutional based cross sectional study

IntroductionMalaria remains a major public health importance disease, especially, among under five children in Ethiopia, who were vulnerable group due to not well developed immunity. Although studies in regard to the burden of malaria among under-five children were available elsewhere, study in the low malaria transmission areas were scarcely available. ObjectiveTo determine the prevalence of malaria and identify associated factors among febrile under-five children in Bora district, East Shoa zone, Oromia region, Ethiopia in 2024. MethodsAn institution based cross sectional study was conducted among 466 children aged 6 to 59 months with febrile who visited health centers in Bora district from July 08 to August 09, 2024. The study participants were selected from each health centre considering proportionally allocation of the sample based on the number of febrile cases screened for malaria during the same period of the previous year. Data were collected using structured questionnaire and kobo collect version 2024.1.3, and cleaned then exported to STATA version 17 for analysis. Descriptive statistics was computed and reported by frequency and percentages. Bi-variable and multi-variable binary logistic regression analyses were employed to identify the factors associated with malaria. Thereafter, variable with Adjusted Odds Ratio(AOR) at 95% CI with P-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant variable. ResultsA total of 466 under five children were included in this study giving a response rate of 100% and the overall prevalence of malaria was 12.23%. This study showed under five children who lived in a home close to irrigation area(AOR=2.53, 95% CI: 1.15, 5.58), children who stayed outside during night(AOR=2.56, 95% CI: 1.21, 5.43) and children who did not wear a protective cloth at night(AOR=4.14, 95% CI: 1.03, 16.65) were significantly associated with the development of malaria. ConclusionsMalaria remains with high prevalence among under five children. Children who lived in a home close to irrigation area, stayed outside during night and did not wear protective cloth during night were higher risk of developing malaria. Therefore, management of temporary stored water at irrigation area, not to stay outside during night and wearing protective cloth at night would reduce malaria among under-five children.