Cohort trial reveals community impact of insecticide-treated net son malaria metric indices in urban Ghana

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Date

2010

Journal Title

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Volume Title

Publisher

Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

Abstract

The efficacy of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) in prevention of malaria and anaemia has been shown in rural settings, but their impact in urban settings is unknown. We carried out an ITN intervention in two communities in urban Accra, Ghana, where local malaria transmission is known to occur. There was evidence for amassor community effect, despite ITN use by fewer than 35% of households. Children living within 300m of a household with an ITN had higher haemoglobin concentrations (0.5g/dl higher, P = 0.011) and less anaemia (oddsratio2.21, 95%CI1.08–4.52, P = 0.031atmonth6), than children living more than 300m away from a household with an ITN, although malaria parasitaemias were similar. With urban populations growing rapidly across Africa, this study shows that ITNs will be an effective tool to assist African countries to achieve their Millennium Development Goals in urban settings.

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Keywords

Malaria, Anaemia, Insecticide-treated nets, Urban, Community impact, Ghana

Citation

Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (104): 496–503

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