A Proposal on Prevention and Control of Malaria in Buguma Asari-Toru Local Government Area
Chapter One
Objective of the study
The following objectives will be ascertained for the success of the study;
- To ascertain the level of knowledge about malaria, its prevention, and control in Buguma Asari-Toru Local Government
- To determine the relationship between knowledge acquisition (estimated via level of educational qualification) and malaria disease in Buguma Asari-Toru Local Government
- To determine where treatment is received by individuals affected by malaria disease in Buguma Asari-Toru Local Government
Chapter Two
Review of related literature
MALARIA: Disease, Life Cycle, Distribution
Definition Malaria is both an acute and chronic disease caused by protozoa of the genus Plasmodium. Four species cause human malaria: P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. malariae, and P. ovale. The protozoa are transmitted to humans by female mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles. (Transmission can also occur by direct inoculation of infected red blood cells via transfusion, needles, or congenitally). Some signs and symptoms of the illness are high fever, chills, headache, anemia, and splenomegaly. Most serious and fatal complications are caused by P. falciparum.
Life Cycle
The life cycle of malaria is complex with developmental stages and corresponding symptoms differing according to the Plasmodium species involved. Sporozoites, the infective stage of plasmodia, are injected from the salivary glands of infected mosquitoes during feeding. Following inoculation, the sporozoites disappear from the blood within 30 minutes. Many are destroyed by white blood cells, but some enter liver cells.
Exoerythrocytic Phase.
Sporozoites that enter liver cells multiply asexually in a process called exoerythrocytic schizogony. Thousands of uninucleate merozoites form, displacing the nucleus of the liver cell, but causing no inflammatory reaction in the liver. Eventually, invaded liver cells rupture, releasing thousands of merozoites into the bloodstream. This occurs 6 to 16 days after initial infection depending on the infecting Plasmodium species.
Dormant or Hypnozoite Phase.
All infections due to P. falciparum and P. malariae have a single exoerythrocytic form. All infected liver cells parasitized with P. falciparum and P. malariae rupture and release merozoites at about the same time.
In contrast, P. vivax and P. ovale have two exoerythrocytic forms. The primary type develops, causes liver cell rupture, and releases merozoites just as described for P. falciparum and P. malariae. The other form, which develops concurrently, is known as the hypnozoite. Sporozoites that enter liver cells differentiate into hypnozoites that remain dormant for weeks, months, or years. At some future time, the hypnozoites activate and undergo exoerythrocytic schizogony, forming a wave of merozoites that invade the blood and cause a delayed case or a clinical relapse.
Erythrocytic Phase.
Released merozoites invade red blood cells (erythrocytes), where they develop into trophozoites. After a period of growth, the trophozoites divide and develop, eventually forming 8-24 merozoites in each red blood cell. When this process is complete, the host red blood cells rupture, releasing mature merozoites. The symptoms associated with malaria occur at this point. The merozoites then invade fresh erythrocytes and another generation of parasites develops in the same manner. This process occurs repeatedly during the course of infection and is called eryrthrocytic schizogony. The length of this development cycle differs according to the species of parasite, varying from 48 hours in vivax, ovale, and falciparum malaria, to 72 hours in P. malariae infections. In the early stages of infection there is no characteristic periodicity as groups of parasites develop at different times. The febrile episodes caused are inconsistent. Later, the erythrocytic schizogony development cycle becomes synchronized, and the febrile paroxysms become more consistent. Some merozoites differentiate into sexual forms (female macrogametocytes, male microgametocytes) and develop in invaded red blood cells.
Chapter Three
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work. The choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought to prevention and control of malaria in Buguma Asari-turo local government area
Chapter Four
METHOD OF DATA ANALYSIS
The researcher will employ oral and direct interview in administering this research questions. Responses from the respondents were needed unlike questionnaires, which is less rewarding due to late receipt and loss of responses from respondents. The collected data will be cleaned, coded and entered into Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21 for windows software for analysis. A descriptive presentation of the data will be given, and a logistic regression analysis will be done using the incidence of malaria disease in the last four weeks as the outcome or dependent variable, and the levels of educational qualification (indicating knowledge acquisition) as the independent or exposure variables The variables age and sex were also included as covariates. The different biases (i.e. Non-sampling) encountered in this study include: non-response – this can be minimized by increasing the sample size; and measurement error – this will be resolved by writing clear and simple questions, and proper training and supervision of survey workers.
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