title: Prevalence of malaria parasitaemia in school children from two districts of Ghana earmarked for indoor residual spraying: a cross-sectional study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Indoor residual spraying (IRS) is considered a valuable transmission control measure against malaria but exact efficacy data are not available for many epidemiological settings. This study was conducted to determine indicators for malaria epidemiology and transmission among school children as baseline assessment before IRS implementation in Ghana.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study was conducted in Adansi South District of the Ashanti Region and Wa West District of the Upper West Region of Ghana. Malarial parasitaemia and anaemia were determined in pupils between the ages of 2 and 14 years from Early Childhood Development Centres and primary schools. Plasmodium falciparum parasitaemia was detected by light microscopy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Out of 1,649 pupils who were enrolled at participating schools, 684 were positive for plasmodia resulting in a baseline parasitaemia prevalence of 41.5%. Parasite rate was similar in the two districts (42.0% in Adansi South and 40.7% in Wa West), but differed across the nine sentinel schools ranging from 21 to 63% (p < 0.001). The mean haemoglobin concentration was 11.3 g/dl [standard deviation (SD) ±2.1]. Pupils who had moderate to mild anaemia (7.0-10.9 g/dl) constituted 41.7% of the study sample.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The burden of parasitaemia, malaria and anaemia is a major public health problem among school children in rural Ghana with extensive heterogeneity between schools and warrants further investment in intervention measures.
authors.affiliation: Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine, Kumasi, Ghana. nimakosarpong@yahoo.com.|German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Hamburg-Borstel-Lübeck, Hamburg, Germany. nimakosarpong@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Nimako
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sarpong
authors.affiliation: Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine, Kumasi, Ghana. owusudabo@kccr.de.
authors.forename: Ellis
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Owusu-Dabo
authors.affiliation: German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Hamburg-Borstel-Lübeck, Hamburg, Germany. kreuels@bni-hamburg.de.|Research Group Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany. kreuels@bni-hamburg.de.|Section for Tropical Medicine, I. Department of Internal Medicine, University Medical Centre Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany. kreuels@bni-hamburg.de.
authors.forename: Benno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kreuels
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological, Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences, University of Ghana School of Public Health, Accra, Ghana. jfobil@ug.edu.gh.
authors.forename: Julius N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Fobil
authors.affiliation: AngloGold Ashanti Malaria Control Programme, Obuasi, Ghana. ssegbaya@AngloGoldAshanti.com.
authors.forename: Sylvester
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Segbaya
authors.affiliation: AngloGold Ashanti Malaria Control Programme, Obuasi, Ghana. famoyaw@AngloGoldAshanti.com.
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Amoyaw
authors.affiliation: German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Hamburg-Borstel-Lübeck, Hamburg, Germany. hahn@bnitm.de.|Research Group Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany. hahn@bnitm.de.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hahn
authors.affiliation: Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine, Kumasi, Ghana. kruppa@bni-hamburg.de.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kruppa
authors.affiliation: German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Hamburg-Borstel-Lübeck, Hamburg, Germany. may@bnitm.de.|Research Group Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany. may@bnitm.de.
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: May
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000740:Anemia / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005869:Ghana / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008288:Malaria / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D018512:Parasitemia / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D010961:Plasmodium / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D015995:Prevalence; D012424:Rural Population; D013334:Students