Epidemiology of malaria in pregnancy in majang zone of Gambella region, southwest Ethiopia

Abstract

Malaria is a febrile infectious disease caused by the Plasmodium parasite and transmitted by female Anopheles mosquitoes. Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium malariae, and Plasmodium ovale are the major species to cause human malaria. Plasmodium falciparum (P. falciparum) and Plasmodium vivax (P. vivax) are the most virulent and the most widespread species, respectively. Plasmodium knowlesi, which primarily infects non-human primates, has recently been reported to cause human malaria in forested areas of the Pacific and Southeast Asia. The Plasmodium life cycle follows both sexual and asexual reproduction involving sporogony in the mosquito and schizogony in the vertebrate host (1). Anopheles arabiensis, Anopheles funestus, and Anopheles gambiae are the major species of Anopheles mosquito involved in the transmission of malaria, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where the largest burden with P. falciparum predominance is found (2,3). In 2023, there were an estimated 263 million cases and 597 thousand deaths of malaria in the world, from which 94% and 95%, respectively, occurred in Africa. Ethiopia was the 4th country with the largest estimated number (9.56 million) of malaria cases (after Nigeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Uganda), in the world in 2023