Prevalence of Malaria from Blood Smears: A Four-Year Retrospective Study from the Jean Claude Handrault Hospital, Southern Gabon

Background: Malaria remains a public health concern in developing nations despite the reduction of its burden worldwide. In Gabon, the prevalence of malaria has declined in major urban cities due to the implementation of the preventive strategies recommended by the World Health Organization. However, the few studies conducted in rural areas have revealed that malaria still poses threats. The scarcity of data on rural areas of Gabon in general, and the Haut-Ogooué province, in particular, has led us to conduct the present study. The main objective of this four-year retrospective study was to determine the slide positivity rate of malaria at JC ANDRAULT hospital of Mounana, Southern Gabon.

Methods: Sociodemographic and clinical data from malaria suspected patients were collected from laboratory annual reports and analyzed.

Results: The results revealed a mean annual prevalence of 67.43%, no statistical difference was recorded among the years. The mean malaria cases of female (896) patients were nearly double of that of male patients (467), and patients aged 5-18, and older than 18 were the most affected; both results were found to be statistically significant. Although two peaks malaria cases were recorded during the great rainy season (482) and small dry season (476), the difference among seasons was not statistically significant.

Conclusion: The results of this study revealed that malaria transmission is high in the study area and thus preventive measures should be strengthen and extended to the older patients. This study is the first one to ever report the prevalence of malaria in a rural area of the Haut-Ogooué province.