Modelling Social Vulnerability to Malaria Risk in Katsina-Ala Local Government Area, Benue State Nigeria

Every society has certain groups of people who are more susceptible to risk due to lack of capacity to prevent it, which makes them vulnerable. Malaria is one of such infectious diseases that imposes a substantial burden on vulnerable populations. The objectives of this study is to map and analyze spatial pattern of sub-domains of social vulnerability to malaria risk in Katsina-Ala Local Government Area (LGA) of Benue State Nigeria, model and analyze areas of social vulnerability based on the sub-domains. Based on the review of related literature, a holistic risk and vulnerability framework was adopted to guide the assessment of social vulnerability to malaria risk in the study area. Stratified systematic non-aligned sampling technique was used to collect data on social vulnerability to malaria risk from three hundred and ten (310) households using structured questionnaire and GPS device. Empirical Bayesian Kriging model tool of Geostatistical analyst and Zonal statistical extension tools of ArcGis 10.2 were used for the model. Results revealed a heterogeneous spatial pattern of social vulnerability to malaria across the entire study area, Lack of capacity to anticipate malaria has highest influence with mean value of 0.70 on a scale of 0 to 1; social vulnerability to malaria risk in the study area is high with mean value of 2.51 on a scale of 1 to 4. The study recommends a holistic approach that focuses on the vulnerable group and a paradigm shift in attacking the anopheles mosquito that causes the disease and increasing the capacity of the victims to withstand malaria risk.