Correlation between Climate Parameters and the Spread of Malaria in a Southern City of Nigeria

Abstract

Malaria is a familiar sickness in the tropics. The occurrence of malaria outbreaks
is governed by several factors like rainfall and temperature. This study assessed
the association between climatic parameters (temperature and rainfall) and
malaria occurrence in Benin City, Nigeria. Climate data was obtained from the
Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NIMET) covering the period from 1991 to 2022.
Malaria incidence data was collected from the University of Benin Teaching
Hospital covering 2014 to 2022. The data obtained was analysed using Mann
Kendall test and multiple linear regression analysis in SPSS Version 25. The
results showed that monthly temperatures were generally highest in February and
least in August, and the annual temperature trends revealed a rise that is
statistically significant (P=0.000) over the period studied. Rainfall reveals no
statistically significant trends (P=0.41). The study also revealed that there was a
correlation between climate parameters (temperature and rainfall) and malaria
prevalence (R=0.598). Also, rainfall and temperature contributed to only 35.8% of
malaria occurrence over the study period. This can be inferred that climate
parameters to some extent influence malaria prevalence in the study area.
However, factors other than climate parameters contribute immensely to the
prevalence of malaria in the study area. Therefore, public awareness should be
carried out on climate change and malaria risk so as to control malaria prevalence.