Abstract:
Introduction: Measles is a highly infectious and serious respiratory viral disease caused by a
virus. It is a significant cause of illness and death worldwide. In Ethiopia, measles remains a
disease of public health importance with an annual incidence of 15 per 100,000 populations.
Many studies were done in different parts of the country and worldwide on risk factors
associated with measles but the little study was tried to describe its prevalence and trend in the
Fafan zone. This study, therefore, intended to bridge this information gap by assessing the five
years of measles prevalence and trends in Fafan zone and to update the previous knowledge on
the same problem.
Objective: This data analysis was conducted to assess the prevalence and trends of measles
infection in the Fafan zone of Somali region five-year data analysis (September 2015 up to
September 2019) from November 20-30/2019.
Methods: Descriptive study design of five years of measles surveillance data analysis was
conducted in the Fafan zone of the Somali region. We reviewed line list records and Health
Information Management System reports. The data was collected by a standardized checklist,
was checked for completeness, and then entered into EPI-Data version 3.1 for data editing and
cleaning and analyzed by SPSS version 23.0 software package. The trends in the prevalence of
measles are presented by tables and graphs. The analyzed data are presented using
frequencies, proportions, median, and range.
Results: A total of 332 measles cases were identified. Among the total suspected measles
cases, 296 (89%) were epidemiologically linked measles cases 23 (6.9%) were laboratory confirmed measles cases, 7 (2.1%) were clinically compatible measles cases, and the rest
6(1.8%) were measles IgM negative cases. Among the total measles cases; 79(23.8%) of them
were not vaccinated, 78(23.5%) of them get vaccination with one dose while the vaccination
status of the rest about 175(53 %) of the cases is unknown.
Conclusion and Recommendation: Our analysis revealed that during the five years, the
prevalence and trend of the reporting rate of measles were higher among 5 up to 15 yrears
children than the other age group. The trend of measles has been on the rise mostly affecting
children one up to four years, and five up to 14 years. Routine immunization should be
strengthened to reach all children through well-monitored vaccine cold chain management.
