Effect of total exclusive breast feeding on the prevalence of malaria among children at the pediatric outpatient ward of a Tertiary health care center in Owerri, Southeastern Nigeria

This study was undertaken to assess the effect of total excusive breast feeding on the prevalence of malaria among children, 0-2 years of age. A simple random sampling method was used to select 176 nursing mothers, having children aged 0-2 years during consultation hours at the pediatric outpatient ward of the Federal Medical Center, Owerri,  Nigeria. A well-structured interviewer administered questionnaire was used to source information from the nursing mothers that provided answers to the questions on socio demographic characteristics and breast feeding practices. Blood samples also were collected from the concerned children, stained with Giemsa and Leishman for both thick and thin film preparations respectively, and examined under the oil immersion microscopy for malaria parasites. The results showed that 100% of the mothers had good knowledge of breast feeding, but their practice of total exclusive breast feeding was low (22.7%). Out of 40 exclusively breast-fed children examined in the study, only 4(10.0%) were infected with malaria, while out of the 136 non-exclusively breast-fed children, 50(36.8%) had malaria. The prevalence of malaria was also lowest (6.7%) among the exclusively breast-fed children in the age group 0-6 months. Total exclusive breast feeding practice should be sustained and recommended to all nursing mothers in order to gain from its numerous and indispensable benefits including reduction in the prevalence of malaria among children.