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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Infectious Diseases: Epidemiology and Prevention
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1367586
This article is part of the Research Topic Combating Threats to Global Malaria Control View all articles

Epidemiological overlaps in COVID-19 and malaria within healthcare and community settings of Southern Ghana

Provisionally accepted
Gloria Amegatcher Gloria Amegatcher 1,2Maame E. Acquah Maame E. Acquah 1Deborah K. Tetteh Deborah K. Tetteh 1Rachael B. Obeng Rachael B. Obeng 1Ethel Debrah Ethel Debrah 1Bridget Quist Bridget Quist 1Priscilla Acquah-Jackson Priscilla Acquah-Jackson 1Kyerewaa A. Boateng Kyerewaa A. Boateng 1Gideon Twieku Gideon Twieku 3Samuel Armoo Samuel Armoo 3Gordon A. Awandare Gordon A. Awandare 1Lydia Mosi Lydia Mosi 1Charles A. Narh Charles A. Narh 1,4,5*
  • 1 West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens, College of Basic and Applied Sciences, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana
  • 2 Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, School of Biomedical and Allied Health Sciences, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana
  • 3 Biomedical and Public Health Research Unit, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research– Water Research Institute, Accra, Ghana
  • 4 Department of Medicine, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Australia
  • 5 School of Medicine, Faculty of Health, Deakin University, Waurn Ponds, Australia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: COVID-19 disruptions including lockdowns and prioritisation of COVID-19 control programs in Africa in 2020-2022 contributed to reductions in malaria control activities including antimalarial diagnosis, treatment and resistance monitoring. This study investigated the malaria burden and distribution on the background of active transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in Southern Ghana; utilising community health education and medical screening (CHEMS) approach to determine epidemiological overlaps in COVID-19 and malaria.Methods: Between October-December 2022, prospective cross-sectional surveys, with CHEMS were conducted in Greater Accra and Central regions, where 994 participants enrolled either at a hospital or community setting provided demographic and clinical data including history of clinical malaria infection and antimalarial treatment in the past two weeks. Of this study population, 953 provided nasal/throat swabs for COVID-19 RT-PCR testing, with a subset of 136 participants also providing finger-prick blood for malaria RDT testing.The study population comprised of 73.6% adults, with 54.6% COVID-19 vaccination rate. Overall, 18.1% of participants had a history of clinical malaria, which was associated (adjusted odds ratio > 1.50, P-value ≤ 0.022) with COVID-19 symptoms and positivity, study area and hospital setting, suggestive of overlaps in the epidemiological risk for malaria. On a background of widespread SARS-CoV-2 infections (12-37%), malaria parasitaemia was detected in 6%, with 2% being co-infections with SARS-CoV-2. Among the malaria positives, 9.5% had a history of antimalarial treatment, which suggested that their infections were recrudescent parasitaemia. Conclusion: The overlaps in the epidemiological risk for malaria and COVID-19 indicate that innovative surveillance programs, with community engagement are needed to maximise control interventions including treatment of asymptomatic malaria infections since they contribute to the transmission and spread of drug resistance.

    Keywords: Malaria, COVID-19, diagnostics, co-surveillance, Epidemiological overlap, Ghana, Community and Healthcare

    Received: 09 Jan 2024; Accepted: 10 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Amegatcher, Acquah, Tetteh, Obeng, Debrah, Quist, Acquah-Jackson, Boateng, Twieku, Armoo, Awandare, Mosi and Narh. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Charles A. Narh, Department of Medicine, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Australia

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.