malaria and anemia among children in a low resource setting in nigeria

background: this study aimed at determining the prevalence of malaria and anemia among child­ren in rural community of okada, edo state nigeria, as well as to assess the level of use of insecti­cide treated bed nets and its impact on prevalence of malaria and anemia among study population. methods: thick blood films from 226 children with signs and symptoms of malaria in okada commu­nity were stained and examined for presence of malaria parasites. hemoglobin concentra­tion of all children was also determined using standard method. result: a total of 185 (81.9%) children were infected with malaria parasite. malaria parasitaemia was significantly affected by age ( p =0.003). a significantly higher number of positive cases of malaria and anemia was observed in rainy season as compared to dry season ( p <0.05). the prevalence of anemia in children was 47.3%. malaria was a risk factor for development of anemia in children (or=2.551; 95% ci=1.227, 5.305; p =0.015). use of insecticide treated bed nets was recorded in 11(4.9%) of children studied, and did not significantly reduce the prevalence of malaria and anemia. however among malaria parasite infected children, its use significantly reduced the prevalence of anemia (or=0.126; 95%ci = 0.015, 1.047; p = 0.031). conclusion: malaria and anemia among children was high malaria intervention progammes by rele­vant agencies is strongly advocated.