Epidemiology of Malaria in a Desert Area, Case of the Taoudenni Region in Mali from 2017 to 2020

Abstract

Malaria is an acute febrile human illness caused by the Plasmodium parasite that is transmitted by the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes. The Taoudenni region, located in the Sahel-Saharan zone, is vulnerable to a malaria outbreak due to its very low transmission levels zone. The objective was to study the epidemiology of malaria in the Taoudenni region, with the aim of optimizing control measures. We conducted a cross-sectional study from August 2021 to July 2022. We analyzed malaria data from 2017 to 2020 from this region and carried out a census of all malaria cases. The data were analyzed with SPSS version 18. Proportions were compared with Pearson's Chi2 test or Fisher's Exact test or the Z test of the centered normal distribution reduced to the significance threshold p=0.05. In total, 10,084 patients were identified, including 4,202 confirmed cases of malaria. The sex ratio was 1.07 in favor of the female sex. The overall proportion of malaria was 41.67% (4,202/10,084) among suspected cases. Those aged over 15 had the highest proportion of confirmation with 47.65% followed by those aged 5-14 with 41.08%. Malaria was simple in 91.2% of cases and serious in 8.8% of cases. Peak incidences were mainly observed between September and October. The trend was upward; the highest annual incidence was observed in 2020 and the lowest in 2017 with respectively 82 cases per 10,000 inhabitants compared to 21 cases per 10,000 inhabitants. From 2017 to 2020, an upward trend in malaria cases was observed in the Taoudenni region. A study integrating rainfall data could be considered to better explain the observed trends.