Malaria in Open and Closed Communities in Namrole, Buru Selatan District, Maluku Island, Indonesia

Malaria remains a public health problem in Buru Selatan District, an area with opened and closed communities. This study aimed to describe malaria prevalence and its related factors in opened and closed communities in Namrole, Buru Selatan District. This study was a cross sectional study to measure prevalence of malaria in open and close communities of Buru Selatan District. Study location was in Namrole Sub-District. Subject was selected by purposive sampling, consisted of 128 subjects (64 subjects from opened community and 64 subjects from closed community). Malaria was diagnosed by thin and thick blood smear. Data was presented as proportion. Statistical analysis used Chi-Square to analyse the data. Characteristics of subject (age, gender, occupation) were equal between malaria and non-malaria subjects, except for age in closed community. Prevalence of malaria in this study was 33.6% decrease from the prevalence a year earlier (35.5%). Malaria in closed community was higher than opened community and was clustered in forest. In general, malaria did not relate to behavior although taking medicine differs between malaria and non-malaria group. Malaria in closed community is higher than opened community, mostly asymptomatic, and clustered in forest. The closed community is an area with traditional life and lack of health facilities. This condition is a challenge in malaria elimination program.