Malaria Surveillance at the Patent Medicine Vendors: A Pilot Study in Jigawa State, Nigeria

Background: In Nigeria, the 2018 world malaria report shows that the country’s malaria surveillance system detects less than 20 per cent of the total malaria case. In malaria control programmes, the main source of data is health facility-based and reported routinely through the health information systems. The collected data is mainly for monitoring and evaluation at the programmatic level. Although the adoption of the District Health Information Software (DHIS2) has greatly improved the availability of routine data from health facilities, much is being missed out in the developing countries. And this is because a sizeable number of malaria cases ends up at the formal and non-formal patent medicine vendors (PMVs), thus raising questions about the representativeness of the data collected through the routine DHIS2. Methods: This pilot study, using a quantitative cross-sectional study, attempted to assess malaria surveillance at the PMVs. Three local government areas (LGAs) of Jigawa state, northwestern Nigeria were randomly selected at one LGA from each of the three senatorial districts of the state. Using SPSS statistical application version 24, the study looked at suspected malaria cases across the LGAs. Also, it assessed causal relationships between the RDT testing for suspected malaria and treatment using the ACTs at the PMVs. The eligible participants were children and adults across the two genders with suspected malaria using fever as the entry point. The study collected data for suspected malaria cases between 1st September and 30th November 2019. Results: The analyses show that a total of 9080 suspected fever cases reported in 22 wards across the 3 selected LGAs (Dutse, Ringim, and Kafin Hausa). The disaggregated data shows Dutse reported 2328 (25.64%), Ringim 3515 (38.71%), and K/Hausa 3237 (35.65%) cases. The Pearson Correlation 1.000, (α = 0.01, p < 0.05) 2-tailed test showed a positive linear relationship between suspected malaria cases at the PMVs who get mRDT test and treatment using the ACTs. The Null Hypothesis, which stated that there is no correlation between ACT treatment and suspected malaria cases at the patent medicine vendors (PMVs) tested using mRDT, was rejected in favor of the Alternative Hypothesis. Conclusion: This study underscores the need for malaria control programmes at all levels to incorporate the PMVs in the routine reporting system through the DHIS2 platform. This approach would go a long way to improve the country’s malaria surveillance system, channel the meagre resources to effectively reduce malaria morbidity and mortality, and help in attaining the malaria-free status.