Exploring the impact of scaling up mass testing, treatment and tracking on malaria prevalence among children in the Pakro sub district of Ghana

Malaria remains endemic in Ghana despite the efforts to scale-up several control interventions. Studies in Ghana have reported asymptomatic malaria parasitaemia carriage of 25% in children under-5 and above 40% in school-age children. Mass testing, treatment and tracking (MTTT) of malaria in communities is being proposed for implementation with the argument that it can reduce parasite load, amplify gains from the other control interventions and consequently lead to elimination.

Primary Outcome Measures  :

1. Rate of asymptomatic malaria parasitaemia among afebrile children aged 6 months to 15 years and adults in the Pakro sub district [Once every 4 months, over a period of 24 months ].
2. Proportion of hospital admissions due to malaria that are averted as a result of MTTT implementation.
3. List of challenges that needs to be addressed to enable scale-up of MTTT interventions feasible in Ghana.

Secondary Outcome Measures  :

1. The cost benefit analysis of the scaling up MTTT intervention in the area.

Study Type: Interventional
Intervention Model: Single Group Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary Purpose: Screening

A population of about 5000 individuals in seven communities in the Pakro sub-district of Ghana participated in this study. A register was developed for each community following a census. MTTT engaged trained community-based health volunteers who conducted house-to-house testing using RDTs every 4 months and treated positive cases with Artemisinin-based Combination Therapy. Between interventions, community-based management of malaria was implemented for symptomatic cases.

ClinicalTrials.gov - Project details

Asymptomatic Reservoir
Drug-based Strategies
Financing & Economics
Health Systems & Op. Research
Impact of Interventions

Jul 2017 — Jul 2019

Ghana

Mass Test and Treat (MTaT) strategies