Publication
Title
Prevalence of malaria parasitaemia in school-aged children and pregnantwomen in endemic settings of sub-Saharan Africa : a systematic review and meta-analysis
Author
Abstract
Despite increased malaria control efforts, school-aged children (5-14 years) have higher a malaria prevalence compared to children under-five. In high-transmission settings, up to 70% of school-aged children harbour malaria parasitaemia and therefore contribute significantly to the reservoir for transmission. A systematic review was performed to explore the correlation between the malaria parasite carriage in pregnant women and school-aged children living in similar endemic settings of sub Saharan Africa to inform strategies to improve targeted malaria control. In order to obtain data on malaria prevalence in pregnant women and school-aged children living in the same endemic setting, we searched the Malaria in Pregnancy Library, PubMed, Cochrane library and Web of Science in December 2018. We fit a fixed effect model to obtain a pooled risk ratio (PRR) of malaria in school-aged children versus pregnant women and used Poisson regression to estimate risk ratios in school-aged children for every increase in prevalence in pregnant women. We used data from six (out of 1096) sources that included 10 data points. There was a strong linear relation between the prevalence of malaria infection in pregnant women and school-aged children (r = 0.93, p < 0.0001). School-aged children were nearly twice at risk to carry parasites compared to pregnant women (RR = 1.95, 95% CI: 1.69-2.25, p < 0.01). Poisson regression showed that a 1% increase in prevalence of malaria infection in pregnant women was significantly associated with increase in risk in school-aged children by 4%. Malaria infection prevalence in school-aged children is strongly correlated with the prevalence in pregnant women living in the same community, and may be considered as alternative indicators to track temporal and spatial trends in malaria transmission intensity. Chemoprevention strategies targeting school-aged children should be explored to reduce malaria burden and transmission in school-aged children and its potential impact on communities. (C) 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of World Federation of Parasitologists.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Parasite Epidemiology and Control / World Federation of Parasitologists
Publication
Amsterdam : Elsevier , 2020
ISSN
2405-6731
DOI
10.1016/J.PAREPI.2020.E00188
Volume/pages
11 (2020) , 11 p.
Article Reference
e00188
ISI
000660503700028
Pubmed ID
33145445
Medium
E-only publicatie
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (open access)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Project info
The impact of intermittent preventive treatment strategies in reducing malaria and improving cognitive ability in school-aged children: a neglected control domain with an considerable develompent impact.
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 30.07.2021
Last edited 04.10.2024
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