PREVALENCE AND MANAGEMENT OF MALARIA AMONG INFANTS AND. CHILDREN IN YOLA NORTH LOCALGOVERNMENT AREA, ADAMAWA STATE, NIGERIA

Studies were carried out to determine the prevalence of malaria’parasite infection among
inianis and children (0-12yrs) in Yola North Local Government Area,’Adamawa State, North Eastern• Nigeria. Study was carried out at Yola Specialist Hospital.' Thick and thin films were made and stained using standard parasitological.procedures.,Structured Questionnaires were administered to ascertain the.' age. sex. drugs or insecticides used and state of health of the subjects. b*e fore recruiting them into the study. Overall. 140 (74.9%) of the 187 children investigated were found to have malaria infection.'Age ’ • group (0-6years) had the highest prevalence rate of 56.4 % with mean-parasite density of 850 and the difference between the age groups was statistically significant (p<0.05). Children of illiterates from • sub-urban villages had the highest mean parasite density of 950 with 17,1% prevalence rate for malaria.-' With regards to treatment, 23.6% of the children-were given.local herbs and 18.5% used orthodox ' medicine as prophylaxis. Only 213% used insecticide treated mosquito nets while 19.6% of the parents sprayed insecticides to prove lit mosquito bites. There is therefore need for more awareness on effective use of drugs and Insecticide Treated bed nets in malaria hyper endemic regions.