4.4. Patient evaluation
The next step is the evaluation of the patient’s state of health (with respect to malaria) based on the respective factors (or variables/symptoms).
The ADFI forms the basis of diagnosing patients and determining the intensity of malaria attack.
In order to determine the intensity of malaria attack, a scale of intensity is formed, based on state of ‘perfect information’, whereby each of the variables is considered to have uniform values drawing from a likert scale, to determine the likelihood of malaria attack.
The scale is depicted in Table 3.
It is observed that the likelihood of malaria attack is influenced more by the variables that have high values on the eigenvector; such as fever (FVR) (0.369886), headache (0.158746), excessive sweating (0.040986) and loss of appetite
(0.083172). These variables also belong to the level 2 criteria that have high ratings on the level 2 eigenvector; namely, fever, aches, and general malaise, which are very common symptoms of malaria.
Evidence from the results also shows that uncomplicated malaria has reasonably low impact on the respiratory and gastro
intestinal systems.
In Appendix A.1, the case study of the 30 patients used for the system evaluation is presented.