Investigating Practices Predisposing Fish Farmers to Malaria Infection: An Analytical Cross Section Survey of Mongu and Limulunga Districts of Western Province of Zambia
Keywords:
Practices, Fish Farmers, Malaria Infection, Western Province Zambia
Abstract
Malaria is a parasitic disease 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 conducted 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) between 2012 and 2015. From 2012 to 2015, malaria prevalence started to increase from 12.6% to 15.6% in the Western Province of Zambia. This study set out to investigate the practices of fish farmers that predispose them to malaria infection in Mongu and Limulunga districts of Western Province of Zambia. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used as the data collection tool. Data was analysed using 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 of 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. The practices such as lack of draining of 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 the fish farmers practice unsafe fish farming, potentially adding to malaria transmission levels in Western Province of ZambiaReferences
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2. Churcher TS. (2017). Probability of Transmission of Malaria from Mosquito to Human is Regulated by Mosquito Parasite Density in Naïve and Vaccinated Hosts’, pp. 1–18.
3. Consoli R, Lourenço-de-Oliveira R. (2010). Principais Mosquitos de Importância Sanitária no Brasil. Rio de Janeiro: Fiocruz; 2010.
4. 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.
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9. Genschick S, Kaminski AM, Kefi AS, Cole SM. (2017). Aquaculture in Zambia: An Overview and Evaluation of the Sector’s Responsiveness to the Needs of the Poor (2017).
10. Iléa BR, 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.
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12. Matta S, Khokhar A, Sachdev TR. (2014). Assessment of Knowledge about Malaria among Patients Reported with Fever: A Hospital-based Study, Department of Community Medicine, VMMC and Safdarjang Hospital, New Delhi; J Vect Borne Dis 41, March and June 2014, pp 27–31.
13. Oladepo O, Tona GO, Oshiname FO. (2010). 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.
14. Rodrigues IB, Tadei WP, Santos RC, Santos SO, Bagio JB. (2008). Malaria Control: Efficacy of Bacillus Sphaericus 2362 Formulates against Anopheles Species in Artificial Pisciculture Tanks and Breeding Sites in Pottery areas. Rev de Pat Trop. 2008; 37:161–77. Google Scholar.
15. Simpson JM. (2006). Aquaculture Production, Contributing to Malaria Transmission in the Peruvian Amazon. MA Thesis. Columbia University.
16. Stephens C, Masamu ET., Kiama MG, Keto AJ, Kinenekejo M, Ichimori K, and Lines 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.
17. Tran N. (2018). Fish Supply and Demand for Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Analysis of the Zambian Fish Sector’, (November).
18. Vittor AY, Pan W, Gilman RH, Tielsch J, Glass G, Shields T, et al. (2009). Linking Deforestation to Malaria in the Amazon: Characterisation of the Breeding Habitat of the Principal Malaria Vector, Anopheles Darlingi. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2009; 81:5–12.
19. WHO (2018). World Malaria Report 2018.
20. 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 Predisposing Fish Farmers to Malaria Infection: An Analytical Cross Section Survey of Mongu and Limulunga Districts of Western Province of Zambia. Journal of Agricultural and Biomedical Sciences [Internet]. 6Dec.2023 [cited 31Jul.2025];7(2). Available from: https://journals.unza.zm/index.php/JABS/article/view/1132
Section
Biomedical Sciences
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