OBJECTIVES: To determine the prevalence of malaria parasite carriage and anaemia among senior high school students and to identify the demographic, behavioural and residential factors associated with these outcomes. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: Participants were enrolled from Tempane Senior High School students in the Tempane District of the Upper East Region of Ghana. PARTICIPANTS: 290 senior high school students aged 15-22 years. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Demographic characteristics, residential status and insecticide-treated bed net (ITN) use were collected using a structured questionnaire. Venous blood samples were obtained for malaria parasite detection by microscopy and haemoglobin measurement. Association analysis was performed using logistic regression models. RESULTS: The prevalence of malaria parasite carriage was 23.1%, while 49.0% of participants were anaemic. Day students had a significantly higher prevalence of malaria (59.2%) than boarding students (15.8%) (p<0.001). Malaria parasite infection was also more common among students who did not use ITNs (39.7%) compared with users (5.0%) (p<0.001). In multivariate analysis, not using ITN (adjusted OR (aOR)=15.97; 95% CI 6.33 to 40.32; p<0.001) and being a day student (aOR=5.65; 95% CI 2.58 to 12.36; p<0.001) were significant predictors of malaria parasite infection. Students infected with malaria parasites had significantly lower mean haemoglobin (11.50±1.43 g/dL) than uninfected students (12.56±1.35 g/dL) (p<0.001). Malaria parasite infection (aOR=9.36; 95% CI 3.91 to 22.42; p<0.001) and male students (aOR=2.26; 95% CI 1.09 to 4.65; p=0.028) were associated with higher odds of anaemia. Whereas age groups 18-20 years (aOR=0.41; 95% CI 0.17 to 0.97; p=0.043) and those above 20 years (aOR=0.07; 95% CI 0.02 to 0.27; p<0.001) were associated with lower odds of anaemia. CONCLUSION: Malaria and anaemia remain prevalent among senior high school students in the Upper East Region of Ghana, with asymptomatic malaria strongly linked to anaemia. Not using ITN and being a day student significantly increased the odds of malaria parasite infection. These findings underscore the need to extend malaria prevention interventions to adolescents through school-based programmes, including routine screening, treatment and promotion of consistent ITN use, especially among day students.
Awindago et al. (Wed,) studied this question.