TITLE:
Effect of a Malaria Control Program on the Prevalence of Malaria, Fever and Anaemia in Children under Five Years in the Hohoe Municipality of Ghana: A Comparative Analysis of Cross-Sectional Surveys
AUTHORS:
Margaret Kweku, Eric Kwaku Appiah, Wisdom Takramah, Yeetey Enuameh, Ishmael Norman, Fred Binka
KEYWORDS:
Malaria, Parasitaemia, Mean Parasite Density, Anaemia, Fever, Malaria Transmission, Gametocytaemia, Insecticide Treated BedNets, Children under Five Years, Hohoe Municipality, Ghana
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Infectious Diseases,
Vol.5 No.4,
December
22,
2015
ABSTRACT: Background: Malaria and
anaemia continue to adversely impact the health of children in Ghana. Hohoe is
an area of intense and prolonged, seasonal malaria transmission. In 2006,
malaria control programme activities which provided In-secticide Treated
Bed-Nets (ITNs) to resident children under five years and Artemisinin
Combination Therapies (ACTs) for the management of malaria were introduced into
the Hohoe Municipality. Before the introduction of the control programme,
baseline surveys were carried out in communities in the Hohoe municipality to
determine the prevalence of malaria, fever, anaemia, malaria parasite density,
gametocytaemia and ITN ownership and use in June and November 2006 ahead of the
intervention programme. Similar surveys were conducted in 2010 after the
intervention to assess changes in the earlier indicators in the same
communities. This report presents an evaluation of the intervention by
comparing findings before and after the malaria control interventions. Methods:
In 2010, two community-based surveys were carried out in thirty communities
among children aged five years and below. The first one was at the beginning of
the rainy and high malaria transmission season in June and the other was in
November at the end of the rainy season. The surveys were to determine the
prevalence of malaria, fever, anaemia and ITN ownership, use and effectiveness
among children less than 5 years. Data were collected in the form of interviews
using questionnaire and collection of biological samples. Findings were
compared to those similar surveys conducted in the same communities and age
groups in 2006. Pr-testi was used to analyze two sample tests for proportions
and t-test was used for means. Findings: Malaria prevalence decreased by 20%
[9.0% vs. 7.2%; p = 0.0.40], fever decreased by 47.8% [2.3% vs. 1.2%; p =
0.008] and anaemia decreased by 32.9% [7.8% vs. 5.3%; p = 0.002]. ITN ownership
increased by 67.9% [20.8% vs. 64.8%; p