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

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.