Correlation of Malaria Infection With Nutritional Assessment of School-Going Children In The Rural Area of Nowshera, Pakistan

ABSTRACT
 
This study evaluated the prevalence and risk factors of malaria infection, anemia, and malnutrition among school-going children of Nowshera (a city of Khyber, Pakistan). Subjects and methods: A total of 800 children of aged 5-10 years were included in the study in 2023. Malaria infection was confirmed by rapid diagnostic tests. Hematocrit level was obtained using a centrifuge microhematocrit, and converted to hemoglobin using standard conversion. Nutritional status was determined by the anthropometric measurements, and demographic characteristics were obtained by questionnaire. Anemia and malnutrition were defined according to the World Health Organization standards. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine association between the predictor variables and primary outcre somes.
Some studies have reported that children with previous exposure to malaria have a higher risk of becoming malnourished, as characterised by either stunting, underweight or wasting.)In current research work 800 children weelected for the assessment of malaria and nutritional status, malaria infection was found more frequent among the students 240(12%). In addition, high prevalence of anemia 210(10.5%), malnutrition 180(9%), and stunting 140(7% was observed, while wasting 4(0.2%) and underweight 40(2%0 had very low frequency. Anemia and malnutrition were observed in12%, 10.5% and 9% of the children population, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study showing the current health problems among the school-going children of district Nowshera the prevalence of Anemia and malnutrition and their co-existence in children 5-10 years.