Magnitude of urban malaria and its associated risk factors: the case of Batu town, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess the magnitude of malaria and its associated risk factors in urban, Batu town, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia. METHODS: This health-facility based prospective cross-sectional study enrolled 356 febrile malaria patients to assess risk factors associated with malaria infection. RESULTS: An overall positivity rate of 17.13% (61/356) for malaria infection was observed. Among the malaria-positive patients, 50.8% (31/61) of them were positive for Plasmodium vivax, 45.90% (28/61) were positive for Plasmodium falciparum, and 3.3% (2/61) had mixed infections of P. falciparum and P. vivax. Logistic regression analysis revealed that individuals who possessed insecticide-treated net (Odds ratio [OR] = 0.38, 95% confidence interval [CI] [0.194, 0.743]) and whose houses were sprayed with insecticides (OR = 0.18, 95% CI [0.097, 0.34]) were significantly less likely to have a malaria infection. Individuals living closer to stagnant water had a significantly greater chance of malaria infection than those who lived a distance from stagnant water (OR = 0.34, 95% CI [0.19, 0.59]). CONCLUSION: The present study revealed that malaria remains a public health problem in the urban area of Batu town, which suggests that the same might be true for other urban areas in the country.