Publications

This research aimed to identify the factors associated with severe malaria in children belowfive years old at Hoima Regional Referral Hospital in Hoima District. The study employed across-sectional approach, gathering both qualitative and quantitative data via participantself-administered and investigator-administered questionnaires. A sample of 384 children,aged 6 months to 4 years, participated using convenience sampling. The findings,presented with 95% Confidence Intervals (C.I), Odds Ratios (OR), and P-values, werecalculated using Binary Logistic Regression with Pearson’s correlation in Statistical Packagefor Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 26. Visual representation utilized Microsoft ExcelSoftware. The study had a response rate of 91.4%, encompassing 351 respondents, amongwhom 153 (43.6%) were male and 198 (56.4%) were female. The mean age was 2 years (witha standard deviation of 1.25 years). The malaria prevalence among these children attendingHRRH was 27.4%. This prevalence was significantly linked to several factors: health serviceseekingbehavior, caretaker’s education level, mosquito net usage, child’s age, andcaretaker’s occupation, all exhibiting considerable influence on malaria in children underfive. Pearson’s correlation indicated the significance of these variables: health serviceseekingbehavior (0.139*, P=0.021), mosquito net use (0.286*, P=0.000), and health serviceseekingbehavior (0.131*, P=0.021) with a 2-tailed test at a 95% confidence level, P<0.05.The high prevalence of malaria (27.4%) among children attending HRRH in Hoima District isnotably affected by health service-seeking behavior, mosquito net usage, caretaker’seducation, caretaker’s occupation, and the child’s age.Keywords: Malaria, children less than 5 years, Mosquito, Caretaker, Health service-seekingbehaviour