Malaria patterns across altitudinal zones of Mount Elgon following intensified control and prevention programs in Uganda
Loading...
Date
2020
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
BMC Infectious Diseases
Abstract
Background Malaria remains a major tropical vector-borne disease of immense public health concern
owing to its debilitating effects in sub-Saharan Africa. In the recent past, the high altitude areas in Eastern
Africa have been reported to experience dramatic cases of malaria. However, its patterns following
intensified control and prevention interventions remains and the changing climate remains widely
unexplored in these regions. This study thus analyzed malaria patterns across altitudinal zones of Mount
Elgon, Uganda. Methods Times-series data on malaria cases (2011 - 2017) from five level III local health
centers occurring across three altitudinal zones; low, mid and high altitude was utilized. Inverse Distance
Weighted (IDW) interpolation regression and Mann Kendall trend test were used to analyze malaria
patterns. Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model was used to project malaria patterns
for a seven year period. Results On average, 66±69/1000 individuals suffered from malaria on a monthly
basis. This was most pronounced in the months of May-August 89±88/1000 compared to the months of
November-February (40±33/1000). Malaria patterns varied with season and altitude and declined over
time across the three altitudinal zones. Observed cases, revealed an annual average of 587±750/1000;
345±321/1000 and 338±351/1000 cases in lower, mid and high altitudes respectively. Conclusions
Despite observed decline in malaria cases across the three altitudinal zones, the high altitude zone
became a malaria hotspot as cases variably occurred in the zone. The projections of malaria revealed
declining patterns of malaria cases in all the altitudinal zones. Malaria control interventions thus ought to
be strengthened and strategically designed to achieve no malaria cases across all the altitudinal zones.
Integration of climate information within malaria interventions can also strengthen eradication strategies
of malaria in such differentiated altitudinal zones.
Description
Keywords
Afromontane, Ecohealth, Malaria, Ecotones, Climate change, Infectious diseases
Citation
Siya, A., Kalule, BJ, Ssentongo, B., Lukwa, AT, & Egeru, A. (2020). Malaria patterns across altitudinal zones of Mount Elgon following intensified control and prevention programs in Uganda. BMC Infectious Diseases, https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9627-656X