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How Much Malaria Occurs in Urban Luanda, Angola? A Health Facility-Based Assessment

2009; American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene; Volume: 80; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.4269/ajtmh.2009.80.487

1476-1645

Julie Thwing, Jules Mihigo, Alexandra Pataca Fernandes, Francisco Saúte, Carolina Miguel Ferreira, Filomeno Fortes, Alexandre Macedo de Oliveira, Robert D. Newman,

Travel-related health issues

We conducted a health facility-based survey of patients with fever during malaria transmission season to determine the proportion with laboratory-confirmed malaria in Luanda, Angola. We enrolled 864 patients at 30 facilities; each underwent a blood film for malaria and a questionnaire. Only 3.6% had a positive blood film. When stratified by distance of the facility to city center (< 15 km and ≥ 15 km), the proportions were 1.5% (9/615) and 8.8% (22/249), respectively ( P < 0.0001). Of patients traveling outside Luanda in the preceding 3 months, 6.8% (6/88) had malaria, compared with 3.2% (26/776) not traveling ( P = 0.13). Children < 5 years of age were less likely to have malaria (2.4%; 12/510) than children ages 5–14 (8.7%; 9/104) and adults (4.0%; 10/250) ( P = 0.03). The prevalence of laboratory-confirmed malaria in febrile patients in Luanda is very low, but increases with distance from the urban center. Prevention and treatment should be focused in surrounding rural areas.