Prevalence of Malaria Infection among HIV Infected Pregnant Women Receiving Care at Public Health Facilities in Ondo State of Nigeria

Malaria and HIV are important challenging infections in Nigeria. Co-infections of this duo in pregnancy has been associated with various adverse pregnancy outcomes including anaemia, low birth weight, premature birth, maternal and neonatal death. This study was carried out to determine the prevalence of malaria infection among HIV infected pregnant mothers reporting for routine antenatal checkup in two major state owned hospitals in Ondo city. The cross-sectional study conducted between May and September 2018 had 93 HIV infected pregnant women as participants. The overall prevalence rate of malaria was 52.6% and the highest rate was recorded among separated/divorced participants (83.3%). Malaria infection was found to be statistically significant in relative to CD4+ cell counts where malaria infection prevalence ranges from 22.2% to 71.4% ( χ2 =9.22, P=0.03). This study has found that the prevalence of malaria was high among HIV infected pregnant women in Ondo city and that factors such as gravidity, reported fever and residence do not vary significantly on the univariate analysis employed in this study.