Uptake of Intermittent Preventive Treatment (Ipt) and the Prevalence of Malaria among Pregnant Women in Iganga District, Uganda for Financial Year 2019/2020

Introduction: Uganda has got the highest prevalence rate of malaria among the risk groups compared to other parts of the world. In addition, Uganda bears a particularly large burden from the disease which is limited by a lack of reliable data, but it is clear that the prevalence of malaria infection, incidence of disease, and mortality among pregnant women all remain very high. According to the Iganga DHIS2 Jan-May report, a higher number of pregnant women received Intermittent Preventive Treatment one (IPT1) and the numbers dropped for IPT2 and IPT3. The district is also referral point of the greater Busoga region and has got several challenges towards malaria control. The study aimed at assessing the uptake of Intermittent Preventive Treatment and the prevalence of malaria among pregnant women in Iganga district so as to generate evidence for scaling up appropriate interventions for IPT uptake among pregnant women. Methods: The research was a retrospective study using secondary data to assess the uptake of IPT and prevalence of malaria for financial year 2019/2020 in nine Public Health Centre IIIs and one Public Health Centre IV. In this study IPT was defined as the administration of a curative dose of an effective antimalarial drug to all pregnant women without testing for presence of malaria parasite and at least three doses as recommended. Secondary data from HMIS was obtained and analyzed to assess the uptake of IPT services and the prevalence of malaria among pregnant women was determined using proportions. Results: The study found that of 6,672 women who received the first dose of IPT-SP, 1671 (25%) of the women received less than 2 doses of IPT and 46% of pregnant women received more than 2 doses of IPT. The study showed that a total of 3,435 pregnant women tested positive for malaria which brings the prevalence to 50%, and being highest among pregnant women aged 20-24 years at 50%. Conclusions: The study showed that the uptake of IPT was relatively low among lower age groups with a relatively high prevalence of malaria among the same age group. This calls for all stakeholders (DHO, MOH, Iganga District, NGOs e.t.c) urgent attention thus to ensure mass sensitization about malaria and IPT importance with IEC and ITN distribution, early diagnosis and treatment, giving incentives to ANC attending mothers, control of the vector.