Abstract:
BACKGROUND: Malaria has been a major cause of morbidity and mortality in developing countries,
including Ethiopia. Health facility records are major sources of data for planning, intervention and
evaluation of health services and programs. The objective of this study was to assess trend and pattern of
malaria based on health care facility records.
METHODS: retrospective record review was conducted from April to May 2007 on routinely collected
data on malaria cases seen at out patient department of Jimma zone health care facilities from July 2001
to June 2006. Proportion and distribution of malaria cases by time and person were analysed using
Microsoft Office Excel 2003.
RESULTS: Out of 11,689,789 cases seen in Outpatient Departments of the facilities, 288,643 (17%) of
them were malaria. The number of malaria cases varied both seasonally and by year where the peak
was seen to be in the month of September and lowest number of cases were seen from January to March,
sharp increment number of malaria cases was seen from 2002/3 to 2003/4; 27,263 cases to 75,149 cases,
respectively. The numbers of cases were lower in the years 2001/2 and 2002/3. A significant proportion,
87,539 (61.0%) of microscopically confirmed malaria cases were not documented by malaria species.
Among the documented ones, 34203 (62.0%) were Plasmodium Falciparum and 21313 (38.0%) were
Plasmodium Vivax.
CONCLUSION: Malaria constitutes large proportion of all cases with seasonal and yearly variations.
Large proportion of malaria cases, were not documented by species. Thus, it is recommended that health
care institutions should improve malaria cases by species for appropriate intervention. Awareness
creation among community and health professionals regarding seasonal variation and secular trend of
malaria is recommended as well.
