Prevalence of Malaria Parasitemia in Two Health Facilities in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, Nigeria.

Abstract

Despite the concerted control effort, malaria still remains a major public health challenge in sub-Saharan Africa. A cross-sectional study aimed at assessing the prevalence of malaria parasites among outpatients presenting at the Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital (NDUTH) and Scanex Diagnostics in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, Nigeria between April, 2025 and March, 2026. Three millilitres of venous blood samples were collected from 350 consented study participants using veni-puncture into EDTA bottles. A thick and thin blood smears were prepared according to standard procedures. The smeared slides were subsequently stained with a 10% Giemsa solution at pH 7.2 for 15 minutes. All positive slides were determined under an oil-immersion microscope 1000x magnification. From the results, the prevalence rate at NDUTH and Scanex Diagnostics were 32.50% and 40.67% respectively. Males (38.92%) had higher prevalence compared to females (32.73%) (P-value = 0.085). The infections peaked at the age bracket 21 to 30 years (54.63%) (P-value = 0.196). The prevalence metrics offer vital data for local transmission dynamics and provide a clinical information for ongoing surveillance within the Niger Delta region.