Investigating Practices Among Fish Farmers That Predispose Them To Malaria Infection: An Analytical Cross Section Survey In Mongu And Limulunga Districts Of Western Province, Zambia
Keywords:
Practices, fish farmers, malaria infection, Western province Zambia.
Abstract
Malaria is a parasitic disease that is transmitted between humans through the bite of the infected female Anopheles mosquito. Zambia has recently experienced a growing demand for fish, which is largely triggered by the growing population and an emergent urban middle class within Zambia and neighbouring countries. Various fish farming practices are carried out on small-scale, smallholder and commercial levels. Western Province is among the provinces in Zambia where fish farming is done. In 2014, Zambia became the sixth largest producer of farmed fish (mainly breams – a local name for tilapia) in Africa and the largest in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and between 2012 and 2015, the malaria prevalence started to climb from 12.6 to 15.6 per cent in Western Province of Zambia. This study set out to investigate the practices of fish farmers that predispose them to malaria infection in Mongu (45) and Limulunga (30) districts of the western province of Zambia. The data collection tool was an interviewer-administered questionnaire (demographic characteristics, malaria knowledge, and fish farming practices). The data were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22. Out of a total of 75 fish farmers, 83% of the participants had good knowledge of malaria while 17% had poor knowledge, and an association was found between the two highest levels of education (Tertiary and Secondary) and knowledge on malaria according to the chi-squared test (p<0.005) and also showed that 73% (n=55) had their ponds near their houses and 3% (n=20) had their ponds far from their houses. Practices such as not draining ponds, working around the ponds at night without protective clothing, and having ponds near households predispose fish farmers to malaria infection in Mongu and Limulunga districts in Western Province, Zambia. Collectively, 21% of fish farmers practice unsafe fish farming, which could potentially increase malaria transmission levels in Western Province, Zambia.References
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Stephens C, Masamu E.T., Kiama M.G, Keto A.J, Kinenekejo M, Ichimori K, and Lines1 J, (2015) Knowledge of mosquitos in relation to public and domestic control activities in the cities of Dar es Salaam and Tanga, WHO Bulletin OMS. Vol 73 2015
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Churcher, T. S. (2017) ‘Probability of Transmission of Malaria from Mosquito to Human Is Regulated by Mosquito Parasite Density in Na ï ve and Vaccinated Hosts’, pp. 1–18. Consoli R, Lourenço-de-Oliveira R. Principais mosquitos de importância sanitária no Brasil. Rio de Janeiro: Fiocruz; 2010.
Costa KM, de Almeida WA, Magalhaes IB, Montoya R, Moura MS, de L. M. (2010) ‘Malaria in Cru- zeiro do Sul (Western Brazilian Amazon): analysis of the historical series from 1998 to 2008’, Panam Salud Publica, (28), pp. 353–360.
Cristina, I. (2015) ‘Contribution of fish farming ponds to the production of immature Anopheles spp . in a malaria ‑ endemic Amazonian town’, Malaria Journal. BioMed Central, pp. 1–12.
Dos Reis I. C. (2015) ‘Epidemic and endemic malaria transmission related to fish farming ponds in the Amazon Frontier’, PLoS ONE, 10(9).
Elisabeth W, Malaria Elimination Front Advances to Western Province in Zambia, 23 June, 2016. www.makingmalariahistory.org/malaria-elimination-front -advances-to-western-province-in-zambia. Accessed on 04-05-2019.
Ellah Zingani,Given Mtonga, Aubrey Chichonyi Kalungia, Moses Mukosha, Alefa Banda. Socio-economic and Socio-cultural factors affecting malaria control interventions in Zambia: A survey of Milenge district, Luapula Province. Zambia. Journal of Preventive and Rehabilitative Medicine, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2017, pp. 5-11. doi: 10.21617/jprm.2017.0102.1
Genschick S, Kaminski AM, Kefi AS, Cole SM.‘Aquaculture in Zambia : An overview and evaluation of the sector’s responsiveness to the needs of the poor’ (2017).
Iléa BR(1), Wanderli PT, Jose M. C. da S. D. (2013) ‘Larvicidal Activity Of Bacillus sphaericus 2362 Against Anopheles nuneztovari, Anopheles darlingi AND Anopheles braziliensis (Diptera, Culicidae’, BioAssay:, pp. 1–7.
Maheu-Giroux M, Casapía M, Soto-Calle VE, Ford LB, Buckeridge DL, Coomes OT, Gyorkos TW. Risk of malaria transmission from fish ponds in the Peruvian Amazon. Acta Trop. 2010 Jul-Aug;115(1-2):112-8. doi: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2010.02.011. Epub 2010 Feb 25. PMID: 20188688.
Matta S, Khokhar A and Sachdev T.R. (2014) Assessment of knowledge about malaria among patients reported with fever: a hospital-based study, Department of Community Medicine, VMMC & Safdarjang Hospital, New Delhi; shankermatta@yahoo.com , J Vect Borne Dis 41, March & June 2014, pp 27–31
Oladepo, O., Tona, G.O., Oshiname, F.O. et al. Malaria knowledge and agricultural practices that promote mosquito breeding in two rural farming communities in Oyo State, Nigeria. Malar J 9, 91 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-2875-9-91
Rodrigues IB, Tadei WP, Santos RC, Santos SO, Bagio JB. Malaria control: efficacy of Bacillus sphaericus 2362 formulates against Anopheles species in artifitial pisciculture tanks and breeding sites in pottery areas. Rev de Pat Trop. 2008;37:161–77.Google Scholar
Simpson JM, Aquaculture Production, Contributing to the Transmission of Malaria in the Peruvian Amazon. MA Thesis. Columbia University. 2006.
Stephens C, Masamu E.T., Kiama M.G, Keto A.J, Kinenekejo M, Ichimori K, and Lines1 J, (2015) Knowledge of mosquitos in relation to public and domestic control activities in the cities of Dar es Salaam and Tanga, WHO Bulletin OMS. Vol 73 2015
Tran N. (2018) ‘Fish supply and demand for food security in Sub-Saharan Africa : An analysis of the Zambian fish sector’, (November).
Vittor AY, Pan W, Gilman RH, Tielsch J, Glass G, Shields T, et al. Linking deforestation to malaria in the Amazon: characterization of the breeding habitat of the principal malaria vector, Anopheles darlingi. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2009;81:5–12.PubMed CentralPubMedGoogle Scholar
WHO (2018) World malaria report 2018.
WHO (2020) World malaria report 2020.
WHO (2022) World malaria report 2022.
Zambia National Malaria Elimination Centre (2017) ‘National Malaria Elimination Strategic Plan 2017-2021 Moving from accelerated burden reduction to malaria elimination in Zambia’. Available at: http://www.makingmalariahistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/NMESP_2017-21.
Published
2023-12-06
How to Cite
1.
Zingani E, Nakweba L. Investigating Practices Among Fish Farmers That Predispose Them To Malaria Infection: An Analytical Cross Section Survey In Mongu And Limulunga Districts Of Western Province, Zambia. Journal of Agricultural and Biomedical Sciences [Internet]. 6Dec.2023 [cited 21Nov.2024];7(2). Available from: https://medicine.unza.zm/index.php/JABS/article/view/1132
Section
Biomedical Sciences
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