{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]],"date-time":"2026-10-07T16:27:26Z","timestamp":1791390446568,"version":"4.3.3"},"reference-count":33,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,1]],"date-time":"2024-08-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1722470400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Parasitol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Background<\/jats:title><jats:p>Malaria continues to be an important threat to public health and infects millions of children under 5 years of age each year. Although Ethiopia has set targets for at-risk group interventions to eradicate and manage malaria, the illness is still a serious public health problem in areas where it is endemic, especially in the unique lowlands in the Borena zone.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Objective<\/jats:title><jats:p>This study aimed to determine the prevalence of malaria and associated factors among children in Borena\u2019s pastoral communities, Oromia Regional State, southern Ethiopia, in 2022.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from 1 March to 30 April 2022 among 437 randomly selected households with children under 5 years of age in pastoral communities in the Borena zone. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews with structured and pretested questionnaires and blood sample examination using microscopy. Thick and thin blood smears were prepared and examined under a microscope at a health center to confirm malaria cases. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 25. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were used to identify factors associated with malaria, and a <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>-value &amp;lt;0.05 was used to declare statistical significance.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Result<\/jats:title><jats:p>The prevalence of malaria among children under 5 years of age was 27.8% (95% CI = 23.5\u201332.1), and the prevalence rates of <jats:italic>Plasmodium falciparum<\/jats:italic>, <jats:italic>Plasmodium vivax<\/jats:italic>, and mixed malaria were 68.4%, 25.6%, and 6%, respectively. Regarding the proportion of malaria among age groups, 81% of children under 5 years of age between 48 and 59 months were malaria-positive. In this study, fever within the last week (AOR = 13.34, 95% CI = 6.37\u201327.95) and not sleeping under insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) (AOR = 3.10, 95% CI =1.95\u20134.92) were significantly associated with malaria. The age of the children was negatively associated with malaria prevalence.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title><jats:p>The prevalence of malaria among children under 5 years old was high during the rainy season in this pastoral region of Ethiopia. Factors such as fever within the last week and not sleeping in insecticide-treated nets were significantly associated with malaria. Therefore, to reduce malaria-related infections and deaths among children under 5 years of age, the government ought to enhance the availability and utilization of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs).<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpara.2024.1438218","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,1]],"date-time":"2024-08-01T05:30:24Z","timestamp":1722490224000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Malaria and associated factors among under-five children in Borena pastoral communities, southern Ethiopia"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"3","author":[{"given":"Alqeer","family":"Aliyo","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wako","family":"Golicha","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Anteneh","family":"Fikrie","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"363","DOI":"10.2147\/IDR.S223873","article-title":"Among febrile children underfive years: A cross-sectional study in Arba Minch Zuria district, South Ethiopia","volume":"13","author":"Abossie","year":"2020","journal-title":"Infect. 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