Background and Objective:
Malaria is a parasitic disease caused by five species of Plasmodium and transmitted by Anopheles mosquitoes. Hormozgan Province is one of the endemic foci of malaria in the south of the country. Therefore, the present study was designed to determine the epidemiology of malaria over a ten-year period in Hormozgan Province.
Methods
To determine the ten-year epidemiology of malaria in Hormozgan province, data from 2012 to 2021 were collected from health centers. Information extracted from patient records included gender, age, season of illness, nationality, place of residence, year, and the diagnosed parasites. The data were analyzed using the chi-square test.
Results
A total of 682 malaria cases were reported. In this study, 87.8% and 12.2% of patients were male and female, respectively. The highest number of patients was in the months of September, July and August, respectively, and 45.7% of cases were reported in summer and most cases in individuals older than 15 years. The prevalence of malaria in Jask, Bandar Abbas and Qeshm was 23.9%, 22.3% and 13.3%, respectively. Plasmodium vivax was more prevalent. Also, 49.3% of patients were of Pakistani nationality.
Conclusion
The high prevalence of patients of Pakistani and Afghan nationality indicates the importance of decision-making and adopting methods for the prevention and control of the disease and its vectors. On the other hand, the findings of this study highlight the importance of paying attention to malaria elimination programs, improving local surveillance and monitoring, educating at-risk groups, and intersectoral collaboration.