Cargando…

Malaria indicator surveys demonstrate a markedly lower prevalence of malaria in large cities of sub-Saharan Africa

BACKGROUND: One in eight sub-Saharan Africans now lives in a city with a population greater than 750,000. Decision makers require additional evidence regarding the burden of malaria in these large cities. This paper presents results from analysis of existing data from nationwide household surveys me...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Pond, Bob S
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3848558/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24021162
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1475-2875-12-313
_version_ 1782293778541838336
author Pond, Bob S
author_facet Pond, Bob S
author_sort Pond, Bob S
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: One in eight sub-Saharan Africans now lives in a city with a population greater than 750,000. Decision makers require additional evidence regarding the burden of malaria in these large cities. This paper presents results from analysis of existing data from nationwide household surveys measuring malaria parasitaemia by microscopy among children six to 59 months of age in 15 countries of sub-Saharan Africa. METHODS: Geo-coordinates for each survey cluster were used to determine the distance from the cluster to the centre of each of 16 large cities with populations greater than 750,000. Geo-coordinates of each site within 25 km of the centre were entered into Google Earth to obtain a satellite image of the location and determine whether it was within the boundaries of the metropolis. In the case of two countries for which survey geo-coordinates were not available, clusters located in an additional four large cities were identified based upon their designated district. Data from all sites within city boundaries were pooled together and compared to data from all rural sites within 150 km of the city centre or in the same zone of malaria endemicity. RESULTS: Of the 20 large cities, only in Ouagadougou were more than 10% of children found to have a malaria infection. The prevalence was less than 5% for 16 of these cities. Apart from Antananarivo where both the large city and the comparison rural communities were parasite-free, the prevalence in each of the large cities was 0 to 40% of that found among children living in rural communities within 150 km of these cities or within the same zone of malaria endemicity. In 14 of the 20 large cities, all of the children living in 75% or more of the clusters were malaria parasite-free. CONCLUSIONS: Existing data from malaria indicator surveys can be used to document the substantially lower prevalence of malaria in specific large cities. These findings will help policy makers, public health programmers and clinical workers in each country to develop and promote malaria control strategies that are suited to large cities as well as to those living in smaller communities.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-3848558
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2013
publisher BioMed Central
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-38485582013-12-04 Malaria indicator surveys demonstrate a markedly lower prevalence of malaria in large cities of sub-Saharan Africa Pond, Bob S Malar J Research BACKGROUND: One in eight sub-Saharan Africans now lives in a city with a population greater than 750,000. Decision makers require additional evidence regarding the burden of malaria in these large cities. This paper presents results from analysis of existing data from nationwide household surveys measuring malaria parasitaemia by microscopy among children six to 59 months of age in 15 countries of sub-Saharan Africa. METHODS: Geo-coordinates for each survey cluster were used to determine the distance from the cluster to the centre of each of 16 large cities with populations greater than 750,000. Geo-coordinates of each site within 25 km of the centre were entered into Google Earth to obtain a satellite image of the location and determine whether it was within the boundaries of the metropolis. In the case of two countries for which survey geo-coordinates were not available, clusters located in an additional four large cities were identified based upon their designated district. Data from all sites within city boundaries were pooled together and compared to data from all rural sites within 150 km of the city centre or in the same zone of malaria endemicity. RESULTS: Of the 20 large cities, only in Ouagadougou were more than 10% of children found to have a malaria infection. The prevalence was less than 5% for 16 of these cities. Apart from Antananarivo where both the large city and the comparison rural communities were parasite-free, the prevalence in each of the large cities was 0 to 40% of that found among children living in rural communities within 150 km of these cities or within the same zone of malaria endemicity. In 14 of the 20 large cities, all of the children living in 75% or more of the clusters were malaria parasite-free. CONCLUSIONS: Existing data from malaria indicator surveys can be used to document the substantially lower prevalence of malaria in specific large cities. These findings will help policy makers, public health programmers and clinical workers in each country to develop and promote malaria control strategies that are suited to large cities as well as to those living in smaller communities. BioMed Central 2013-09-10 /pmc/articles/PMC3848558/ /pubmed/24021162 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1475-2875-12-313 Text en Copyright © 2013 Pond; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research
Pond, Bob S
Malaria indicator surveys demonstrate a markedly lower prevalence of malaria in large cities of sub-Saharan Africa
title Malaria indicator surveys demonstrate a markedly lower prevalence of malaria in large cities of sub-Saharan Africa
title_full Malaria indicator surveys demonstrate a markedly lower prevalence of malaria in large cities of sub-Saharan Africa
title_fullStr Malaria indicator surveys demonstrate a markedly lower prevalence of malaria in large cities of sub-Saharan Africa
title_full_unstemmed Malaria indicator surveys demonstrate a markedly lower prevalence of malaria in large cities of sub-Saharan Africa
title_short Malaria indicator surveys demonstrate a markedly lower prevalence of malaria in large cities of sub-Saharan Africa
title_sort malaria indicator surveys demonstrate a markedly lower prevalence of malaria in large cities of sub-saharan africa
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3848558/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24021162
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1475-2875-12-313
work_keys_str_mv AT pondbobs malariaindicatorsurveysdemonstrateamarkedlylowerprevalenceofmalariainlargecitiesofsubsaharanafrica