Prevalence and associated factors of malaria among pregnant women in Sherkole district, Benishangul Gumuz regional state, West Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: Malaria during pregnancy leads to serious adverse effects on mothers and the fetus. Approximately 25 million pregnant women in sub-Saharan Africa live at risk of malaria. This study would help to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by improving programs that deal with the prevention of malaria. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the prevalence and associated factors of malaria among pregnant women. METHODS: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from July to August 2018 in Sherkole district, West Ethiopia. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 504 pregnant women. The interviewer-administered semi-structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Malaria was also diagnosed using a rapid diagnostic test. The data was entered using EPI info version 7.2.2.2 and transferred to SPSS version 20 for analysis. Descriptive statistics were done using frequency and percentages. Both bivariable and multivariable logistic regression models were employed. Variables having p-value < 0.2 were included in the final multivariable model. Variables having p-values < 0.05 from the multivariable model were considered to be significantly associated with the dependent variable. The adjusted odds ratio with its 95% confidence interval (CI) was used as a measure of association. RESULTS: Of the total 498 pregnant women who participated in this study, 51(10.2, 95% CI: 7.72–13.24) were found to have malaria. Of these, 46 (90.2%) and 5 (9.8%) were caused by Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax, respectively. Decreasing Age (Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) 0.78; 95% CI 0.67–0.911), not using insecticide-treated bed net (ITN) (AOR 12.5; 95% CI 4.86–32.21), lack of consultation and health education about malaria prevention (AOR 7.18; 95% CI 2.74–18.81), being on second-trimester pregnancy (AOR 7.58; 95% CI 2.84–20.2), gravidae II (AOR 5.99; 95% CI 1.68–21.44) were found to be significantly associated with malaria during pregnancy. CONCLUSION: Malaria is still a public health problem among pregnant women in the Sherkole district. Age, ITN use, gravidity, gestational age, and health education had a significant association with malaria. Screening pregnant women for asymptomatic malaria infection and educating and consulting on the appropriate malaria preventive methods shall be provided.