Ghana – Impact of insecticide-treated nets in urban Ghana

Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 2010 Apr 23.

Cohort trial reveals community impact of insecticide-treated nets on malariometric indices in urban Ghana.

Klinkenberg E, Onwona-Agyeman KA, McCall PJ, Wilson MD, Bates I, Verhoeff FH, Barnish G, Donnelly MJ.

Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Pembroke Place, Liverpool L3 5QA, UK; International Water Management Institute, PMB CT 112, Cantonments, Accra, Ghana.

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 a mass or community effect, despite ITN use by fewer than 35% of households. Children living within 300 m of a household with an ITN had higher haemoglobin concentrations (0.5g/dl higher, P=0.011) and less anaemia (odds ratio 2.21, 95% CI 1.08-4.52, P=0.031 at month 6), than children living more than 300 m 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. [Registered trial number ISRCTN42261314; http://www.controlled-trials.com/ISRCTN42261314%5D.

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India – Mangalore: 830 malaria cases reported in August

MANGALORE Sept 8: Health officials identified 830 cases of malaria infection within the city corporation limits in last month. In addition, 71 cases of affliction have been reported from rural areas. This is said to be the highest number of cases recorded in the district this year.District health officer H. Jagannath said that the rural-urban divide was a historical feature of the district.

“The urban centres are always ahead of rural areas in the prevalence of the disease because there are more sources for mosquito breeding in the city. The female Anopheles mosquito thrives on filthy conditions,” he said.

He said that 7,976 blood samples were collected from within the corporation limits, compared to over 18,000 collected in the rural areas. “It cannot be concluded that the cases reported from rural areas are less because our diagnostic machinery is lacking,” he said, in response to a query.

A majority of the malaria cases identified in the city had been caused by the less deadly parasite Plasmodium viviax (PV).

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