Abstract
Agroecosystems have been associated with risk of malaria. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between three agroecosystems: (i) rubber plantation (RP); (ii) oil palm plantation (OPP); (iii) no cash crop plantation (NCCP) and the prevalence of Plasmodium falciparum infection among children living in the Aboisso region. In the three villages within (Ehania-V5) or close (N’zikro) or far from (Ayébo) to each agroecosystem (RP, OPP, and NCCP), two cross-sectional parasitological surveys were carried out during the dry and the peak of the long wet seasons. A total of 586 children aged 1–14 years were recruited in the three villages to determine the prevalence of malaria using conventional microscopy. Plasmodium falciparum was the dominant species with an overall infection prevalence of 40.8%. There was a significant difference in prevalence between agroecosystems, during both the dry (p = 0.002) and wet seasons (p < 0.001), which was higher in agricultural settings compared with the NCCP environment, whatever the season. The prevalence of P. falciparum infection increased from the dry to the wet season in agricultural settings (RP and OPP), whereas no difference was noted for NCCP. Less than 18% of children use insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) in the three villages, ranging from 6 (in RP) to 30% (in OPP). Multivariate analysis indicated that age (1–4; 5–9; and 10–14 years) was not associated with malaria risk, but the season and living in agricultural villages were associated with a greater risk of malaria infection. Risk of malaria exposure was fourfold higher in children from agricultural villages than their counterpart from the non-agricultural area. Our findings highlight significant variations in the prevalence of P. falciparum according to agroecosystem and season. The findings will be useful in designing and implementing malaria control interventions by the National Malaria Control Program.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the study participants for their consent to participate in the study. We are grateful to PALMCI health, local authorities, and particularly the children and their parents/guardians. We are grateful to local assistants and to Issa Coulibaly from Institut Pierre Richet for his technical assistance. This study was integrated with malaria surveys and has the support of the National Malaria Control Program, which has provided anti-malarial and facilitated collaboration with the study site health agents. This study was also supported by the Aboisso Departmental and Regional Health Director.
We thank Isabella Athanassiou (Bonn, Germany) for language editing.
Funding
The study received part support from the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) of Côte d’Ivoire. The NMCP is currently implementing a lot of interventions against malaria. The parasitology surveys implemented in this study were supported and approved by the NMCP. The data generated were integrated into the routine monitoring and evaluation survey activities of NMCP.
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Cécile Agnimou Malanfoua Sadia-Kacou, Maurice Akré Adja, Benjamin Guibehi Koudou, and Yao Tano conceived and designed the study. Cécile Agnimou Malanfoua Sadia-Kacou collected data, performed all laboratory activities, and drafted the manuscript. Benjamin Guibehi Koudou and Maurice Akré Adja coordinated the field activities and read the manuscript. Anne poinsignon, Jean T. Coulibaly, Allassane F. Ouattara, Serge- Brice Assi and Franck Remoé interpreted the data and revised the manuscript. Tano Yao supervised the study. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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This proposal was reviewed and approved by the Scientific Committee of Institut Pierre-Richet (IPR) and PNLP (Côte d’Ivoire) prior to implementation. The health district and village authorities were informed about the objectives, procedures, and benefits of the study. Verbal approval from the different communities’ members and written consent of districts health officers were obtained before starting data collection. Sick children were treated when they showed any symptoms suspected to be caused by malaria.
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The authors declare no competing interests.
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Sadia-Kacou, C.A.M., Adja, M.A., Assi, S.B. et al. Seasonal prevalence of Plasmodium falciparum infection and use of insecticide-treated nets among children in three agroecosystems in Aboisso, Côte d’Ivoire. Parasitol Res 120, 3663–3671 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-021-07326-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-021-07326-1