Factors Associated with Severe Malaria in Children Under Five Years of Age at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital, Uganda

Malaria continues to be a major public health problem. In 2013, about 198 million cases of malaria were reported globally with a percentage of 82% in the WHO African Region, 12% in South-East Asia region and 5% in the Eastern Mediterranean region, leading to 584,000 deaths worldwide, with 90% of the deaths occurring in African region, 7% in the South-East Asia region and 2% in East Mediterranean regions. Uganda has the sixth highest number of annual deaths from malaria in Africa, as well as some of the highest reported malaria transmission rates in the world. Malaria was one of the leading causes of ill health and deaths, with approximately 16 million cases and over 10,500 deaths reported in 2013. It remains one of the most important diseases in Uganda in terms of morbidity and mortality. This study was aimed at determining the factors associated with severe malaria in children less than five years admitted to Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital. Of the 73 participants sampled, all participated in the study (100% response rate), with most of the children lying within age range of 2-3 years (38.4%), (n=28) the least number were in the age group of 0-1years and >3-4years of age that is 6.8 %. 57.5% of the patients with severe malaria were of male sex. Severe malaria was found to be more in second born children (43.8%). The highest number of patients with severe malaria had two siblings (39.7%), (n=29), with 53.4% (n=39) of the patients having onset of illness within two days from admission. Despite the effort put by the government on prevention of malaria there was a gap on utilization of mosquito nets and seeking health care within 24hours of onset of illness. Therefore, the health teams in the district and health workers in the hospital should sensitize people how to mosquito net as major preventive measure against malaria. Keywords: Malaria, Children, sub-Saharan Africa, Mosquito net, Health workers.