How can malaria control in rural Ghana be improved?

Copyright: Flickr/ Gates Foundation

By: Imogen Mathers

We encourage you to republish this article online and in print, it’s free under our creative commons attribution license, but please follow some simple guidelines:

You have to credit our authors.
You have to credit SciDev.Net — where possible include our logo with a link back to the original article.
You can simply run the first few lines of the article and then add: “Read the full article on SciDev.Net” containing a link back to the original article.
If you want to also take images published in this story you will need to confirm with the original source if you're licensed to use them.
The easiest way to get the article on your site is to embed the code below.

For more information view our media page and republishing guidelines.

The full article is available here as HTML.

Press Ctrl-C to copy

<div class="article-wrap">
<div id="article-introduction">
<h1>How can malaria control in rural Ghana be improved?</h1>
<h4>By: Imogen Mathers</h4>
</div>
<br />
<br />

<div id="article-body">
<p><iframe loading="lazy" frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/202343319&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%"></iframe><br />
<em>If you are unable to listen to this audio, please update your browser or <a href="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/202343319/download?client_id=b45b1aa10f1ac2941910a7f0d10f8e28&oauth_token=1-16343-47894121-334d8206d82f348" style="opacity: 1;">click here to download the file</a> [9.7MB]</em></p>
<p>Collecting <a href="https://www.scidev.net/enterprise/data/">data</a> on <a href="https://www.scidev.net/health/malaria/">malaria</a> prevalence and deaths in rural Ghana is fraught with challenges, explains Seth Owusu-Agyei in this audio interview. An epidemiologist by training, Owusu-Agyei now directs the <a href="http://www.kintampo-hrc.org/">Kintampo Health Research Centre</a> in the north of the country. He is also chair of the <a href="http://www.indepth-network.org/">INDEPTH Network</a>, which monitors and collects data on <a href="https://www.scidev.net/health/">health</a> threats, population dynamics and death rates across countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and Oceania<br />
 <br />
Here he discusses some of the barriers to malaria control in Ghana, from the infrequent use of bednets to the vast distances people have to<a href="https://www.scidev.net/enterprise/transport/"> travel</a> to health clinics to access drugs and treatment. He also talks about the changing nature of data collection in Ghana, and how new technologies are transforming data analysis.<br />
 <br />
The interview was recorded in September at the <a href="http://www.challenges-in-malaria-research.com/2014/">Challenges in Malaria Research</a> conference in Oxford, United Kingdom.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.scidev.net/malaria/multimedia/malaria-data-disease-rural-ghana-improved.html">This multimedia was originally published on SciDev.Net's global Edition.</a><br />
<div class="related_widget"><h3 class="widgettitle">You might also like</h3><ul><li><a href="https://www.scidev.net/sub-saharan-africa/opinions/the-high-and-low-roads-to-malaria-control-ssa/">The high and low roads to malaria control</a></li><li><a href="https://www.scidev.net/sub-saharan-africa/news/health-gaps-in-malaria-control-research/">Surveillance identifies gaps in malaria control efforts</a></li><li><a href="https://www.scidev.net/sub-saharan-africa/news/china-africa-joint-medical-research-to-deepen/">China-Africa joint medical research to deepen</a></li></ul></div> </p>

</div>
<div class="quick-links-wrapper">
<h3>You might also like</h3>
[related-articles]
</div>
<p>This article was originally published on <a href="https://www.scidev.net" target="_blank">SciDev.Net</a>. Read the <a href="https://www.scidev.net/sub-saharan-africa/multimedia/malaria-data-disease-rural-ghana-improved-1-1/" target="_blank">original article</a>.</p>
<script type="text/javascript">
(function(e,t,n,r,i,s,o){e["GoogleAnalyticsObject"]=i;e[i]=e[i]||function(){(e[i].q=e[i].q||[]).push(arguments)},e[i].l=1*new Date;s=t.createElement(n),o=t.getElementsByTagName(n)[0];s.async=1;s.src=r;o.parentNode.insertBefore(s,o)})(window,document,"script","//www.google-analytics.com/ga.js","ga");var _gaq=_gaq||[];var _gaq=_gaq||[];_gaq.push(["_setAccount","UA-3223906-8"],["_trackEvent","article interaction","republished","https://www.scidev.net/sub-saharan-africa/multimedia/malaria-data-disease-rural-ghana-improved-1-1/",null,true])
</script>
</div>

If you are unable to listen to this audio, please update your browser or click here to download the file [9.7MB]

Collecting data on malaria prevalence and deaths in rural Ghana is fraught with challenges, explains Seth Owusu-Agyei in this audio interview. An epidemiologist by training, Owusu-Agyei now directs the Kintampo Health Research Centre in the north of the country. He is also chair of the INDEPTH Network, which monitors and collects data on health threats, population dynamics and death rates across countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and Oceania

Here he discusses some of the barriers to malaria control in Ghana, from the infrequent use of bednets to the vast distances people have to travel to health clinics to access drugs and treatment. He also talks about the changing nature of data collection in Ghana, and how new technologies are transforming data analysis.

The interview was recorded in September at the Challenges in Malaria Research conference in Oxford, United Kingdom.

This multimedia was originally published on SciDev.Net's global Edition.