Geospatial Analysis of Malaria Risks in the Ancient Town of Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria

摘要

Globally, menace of malaria fever has been considered as a threat to human population. Nigeria as a country in tropical climate is worse hit. Monitoring of this deadly disease desires a greater attention. Hence, this study exploits the integrated approach of Remote Sensing and GIS in Epidemiology with the aim of generating malaria risk map of Akure with a view to determining the degree of vulnerability of the study area and reducing the malaria incidence through appropriate medical intervention. The objectives are to generate a mean malaria incidence map of Akure, Analyse the factors responsible for the mean malaria distribution (i.e. Hazard map) of Akure and finally to generate Malaria Risks Map. The mean monthly malaria data across the 23 electoral ward was interpolated using the Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW) techniques. The Hazard map was generated using the multi criteria evaluation, where eight different environmental factors were overlaid using fuzzy overlay techniques. Malaria Risk map was generated by dividing the malaria incidence by the total population at the beginning of the study, and the result showed that places the probability range of very low, low, medium, high, and very high risk of malaria diseases is 0%-1.6%, 1.6% - 10.9%, 10.9% - 27.14%, 27.14% -50.33% and 50.33% - 81.99% respectively such that, places like Moferere, Aba Igbira and Igbatoro the very high risk of the diseases. The study recommends the establishment of health centers should be made at high and very high risk areas at reasonable distance away from the existing health facilities so that people at a distance can easily access the service.