Prevalence and management of malaria in Ghana: A case study of Volta Region

Abstract

Volta Region, one of Ghana's ten administrative regions, has the highest prevalence of malaria in the country. The present paper assesses the patterns, levels, and trends of malaria prevalence among inhabitants in the 12 districts of the region, and examines whether those at risk of malaria have assess to protective measures and have effective treatment for malaria in Volta Region. The study focused on secondary analysis of data from the Volta Regional bio-statistical office, Ho, the region's capital, supplemented by the 2003 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey. The results show that malaria cases are prevalent in the Jasikan, Hohoe, Kpando, Ho and Keta Districts. Districts that lie within the middle and southern belts enjoy two rainy seasons that are conducive to the vector that causes malaria. Overwhelming majority of the in-patients (41.5%) are children aged 0-4 years, while the number of the in-patient cases generally decreases with advancing age. The majority of children who had fever in the last two weeks (34.8%) were aged 12 - 23 months, followed by 34.4% for age group O -11 months. The highest malaria cases in the region are from the Hohoe district (24.2%) in year 2003, followed by Ho 20.1% in 2000 and 2002, and Keta (17.2%) also in 2003. The least recorded is the North Tongu with 0.9% for 2 different years (2000 and 2002). It is anticipated that with a considerable reduction in poverty levels, households and communities would become increasingly responsible for the improvement of their health status and quality of life.