Malaria Hazard and Risk Analysis Using GIS and Remote Sensing in Korahey Zone of Somali Regional State, Eastern Ethiopia

Malaria is one of the killer human diseases caused by protozoan parasites from plasmodium family which foremost transmitted by the bite of the female Anopheles species of Mosquito. Ethiopian lowland areas are favorable for mosquito breeding and malaria transmission due to their tropical location and environmental factors.  The current study was aimed to analyze the malaria hazard and risk areas in the case of Kebridahar and Sheykosh districts of Korahey zone by using GIS and RS technique. In order to achieve the study objective, different data’s such as satellite images, soil map, digital elevation, topographic map, study area shape files and the environmental factors like temperature, elevation, slope, soil, land use land cover and proximity to pond water site were used as an input data for the analysis. Weight was assigned for these parameters by pairwise comparison method and weighted overlay was used in Arc GIS spatial analyst tools to produce the final malaria hard and risk map of the study area. The hazard, malaria prevalence was mapped based on the environmental factors, computed using Multi Criteria Decision Evaluation technique (MCDE). The result of this study revealed that, from the total areas of both districts, 41.4%, 42.2% is mapped as very high and high hazard zone, whereas, the remaining 16.2% is mapped as low level of malaria hazard. The result of the malaria risk map also shows that about, 4095 km2 (23.7%), 12169.2 km2 (70.5%) and 1010 km2 (5.8%) of the study area were subjected to very high, high and moderate malaria risk level respectively. Generally, the result of this study revealed that large area (94.2%) is located in very high and high risk area toward the malaria hazards in Kebridahar and Sheykosh districts of Korahey Zone in Somali region. Therefore, it is recommended that all stakeholders especially health offices at district, zonal, regional and federal levels as well as NGOs should make awareness creation towards malaria prevention in the study area as special and in lowland areas as general