Effectiveness of intermittent Preventive Treatment of Full Course Of Sulphadoxine-Pyrimethamine in Clearance of Placenta Malaria Parasites In Pregnance in Kafue District

Abstract

Malaria infection during pregnancy is a major public health problem in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Pregnant women in developing countries are the worst affected. Malaria in pregnancy has serious consequences both to the mother and her baby. It leads to abortion, prematurity, low birth weight, foetal death, neonatal death, severe anaemia and maternal death. The current stratagem in the prevention of malaria in pregnancy includes use of ITNs and IPT/SP. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of IPT/SP in clearing placental malaria parasites in pregnant women in Kafue District. A case-control study was conducted in two health centres in Kafue District. The cases were the postnatal women whose placentas had malaria parasites. The controls comprised of postnatal women whose placentas had no malaria parasites. The study was conducted in two health centres in Kafue District. Data was analyzed using SPSS software. Chi-Squared [x²], Fisher’s exact test and Odds Ratio (OR) were used. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to control for confounding factors. Statistical significance was achieved if p<0.05. Totals of 25 cases and 146 controls were enrolled into the study. Compared to the age at which the woman started attending ANC [booking] of above 20 weeks, those who started at gestational age of 12-20 weeks were 49% [p=0.002] less likely to be cases. Compared to the gestational age when the woman had her last dose of IPT of more than 36 weeks, those who had the last dose at less than 36 weeks of gestational period/age were 4.46 [p=0.001] times more likely to be cases. Compared to HIV negative women, those who were positive were 1.73 [p=0.014] times more likely to be cases.In conclusion, the study revealed that the effectiveness of IPT/SP in clearance of placental malaria parasites in pregnancy in Kafue District is affected by three factors. These include timing for antenatal booking, frequency of antenatal visits as well as the HIV status of the antenatal woman.