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Malaria Knowledge-Base and Prevalence of Parasitaemia in Asymptomatic Adults in the Forest Zone of Ghana

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Abstract

Purpose

To determine the levels of knowledge, awareness and perception of malaria, and to determine the infection status among asymptomatic adults in selected districts.

Methods

This descriptive, cross-sectional study recruited 849 participants from seven districts in the malaria meso-endemic forest zone of Ghana. Questionnaires were administered to elicit responses from asymptomatic adults on malaria awareness, knowledge and insecticide-treated net (ITN) usage. Capillary blood samples were taken from study subjects for malaria Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) and microscopy. Descriptive statistics was used to analyse quantitative and qualitative data.

Results

Ninety-eight percent of participants were aware of malaria, 94.0% owned ITNs but only 35.5% consistently used them. Also, 56.7% correctly associated malaria with mosquitoes and 54.5% identified stagnant water as the breeding site. Twelve percent (12.2%) and 13.1% of the subjects tested positive for malaria via RDT and microscopy, respectively. Of the 111 confirmed malaria cases, 107 had Plasmodium falciparum infections, two had Plasmodium ovale infections and there were two Plasmodium falciparum–Plasmodium ovale mixed infections.

Conclusion

Awareness and knowledge of malaria was satisfactory but this did not translate into mosquito avoidance behaviour due to deep-seated perceptions and myths. With the prevalence of asymptomatic parasitaemia observed, this reservoir of infection could be dislodged with appropriate health education targeted at women in the rural communities.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Administrators of the selected hospitals and extend their heartfelt appreciation to the staff as well as all participants for their cooperation and willingness to see to the success of the study. The contributions of the staff of the Medical Laboratory Departments of the selected health facilities are much appreciated. We also express our profound gratitude to all research assistants and to Ms. Emelia Kyei Mensah, the nurse who visited all the seven sites collecting data from participants. We appreciate the contributions of Mr. Hope Agbodzakey for the data analysis, suggestions and support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. St. Patrick’s Hospital, National Catholic Health Service, Offinso, Ashanti Region, Ghana

    Raymond Charles Ehiem

  2. Department of Theoretical and Applied Biology, Faculty of Biosciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana

    Raymond Charles Ehiem, Bernard Walter L. Lawson & John Asiedu Larbi

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Contributions

RCE performed experiments, assisted in the analysis and interpretation of data, and wrote the paper. BWLL analysed and interpreted the data, and wrote the paper. JAL conceived and designed the study, and wrote the paper.

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Correspondence to Raymond Charles Ehiem.

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Ehiem, R.C., Lawson, B.W.L. & Larbi, J.A. Malaria Knowledge-Base and Prevalence of Parasitaemia in Asymptomatic Adults in the Forest Zone of Ghana. Acta Parasit. 67, 1719–1731 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11686-022-00629-y

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