Nutritional Status and Asymptomatic Infection in Young Children in Two Different Endemic Areas after Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention Campaign in Mali

Abstract

Undernutrition represents an additional burden in Mali where malaria remains a major public health problem. A cross sectional survey was carried out in November 2018 and 2019 at the end of the Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (SMC) campaign to investigate the association between asymptomatic infection and nutritional status. A total of 541 children aged 6 to 59 months were included, 233 (43.0%) in Koila Bamanan (in an irrigated area with longer seasonal malaria transmission) and 308 (57.0%) in Kita. Data on parasitemia and nutritional status were collected and analyzed using logistic regression. Overall, underweight prevalence was 16.9% in Kita vs. 14.6% in Koila (p = 0.4); 25.6% vs. 40.8% (p = 0.001) for stunting and 14.9% vs. 10.7% (p = 0.001) for wasting in Kita and Koila, respectively. The prevalence of asymptomatic infection was 17.9% in Kita vs. 6.2% in Koila among children 6-23 months (p = 0.045). In multivariate analysis, anemia was associated with underweight (adjusted OR = 2.92; ), and stunting (adjusted OR = 3.17, 95%IC [2.02-4.98]). Asymptomatic infection was associated with underweight (adjusted OR = 2.41, 95%IC [1.21-4.80]. Stunting was higher in children living in Koila (adjusted OR = 2.44,]. However, the reduction in stunting was observed in children 24-59 months (adjusted OR = 0.44 95%CI [0.28-0.96]). A significant correlation was observed between parasite density and underweight in Kita (0.049). Undernutrition remains high among children in both areas and was associated with asymptomatic malaria infection.

The West Africa ICEMR Partnerships for Guiding Policy to Improve the Malaria Prevention and Control

“…The WA-ICEMR research program is comprehensive, generating valuable data-driven evidence necessary for malaria control, and diagnosis. There is a need to expand WA-ICEMR 19 2020 Seasonal malaria chemoprevention efficacy Ateba 29 2020 Space-time trends in malaria incidence Konat e 30 2021 Seasonal malaria chemoprevention and nutrition Ateba 31 2020 Malaria incidence prediction Keita 22 2020 Indoor residual spraying and malaria incidence Keita 32 2021 Malaria insecticide resistance Traore 26 2020 Attractive toxic sugar baits Keita 10 2021 Indoor and outdoor malaria transmission Diarra 33 2021 Attractive toxic sugar baits Traor e 34 2021 Antimalarial drug prescriptions Maiga 35 2021 Artemisinin-based combination therapy efficacy Diawara 36 2021 Genetic variants in Plasmodium falciparum malaria research on human behavioral interventions, which are instrumental in further understanding the results here and are key to achieving malaria control and, ultimately, elimination. The partnerships described here provide highly influential examples for maximizing the engagement among NMCP and its local, national, and international organizations with research communities.…”