Prevalence of Malaria among Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Clinic at the General Hospital, Minna, Nigeria.

Abstract

Malaria in pregnancy constitutes a serious threat to the successful management of pregnancy and has been shown to be associated with undesirable pregnancy outcome such as pre-term labour and poor intra-uterine development of foetus. In this study, blood samples from 300 pregnant women were screened for plasmodium faciparum, blood group antigen and packed cell volume (PCV) using thick and thin blood film microscopy, slide method and micro Hematocrit technique respectively. Out of the 300 samples analyzed, 220 (73.3%) were positive for malaria parasite. The age group (10-20) had the highest level of infection compared to the other age groups. Women within the second trimester had a significantly higher prevalence rate (88.6%) followed by women in the third trimester (61.9%) and then the first trimester (17.9%). Majority of the pregnant women screened had < Normal (20-29%) percentage Red Blood Cells in circulating blood. Higher prevalence (96.0%) of malaria infection was observed in women with blood group A while the least prevalence (56.5%) was recorded in pregnant women with blood group O compared to other blood groups. Though, malaria was found to be significantly unconnected to PCV (p<0.05), the high level of malaria infection seen in the study highlights the need for a comprehensive malaria control programme in the study area.