Malaria, helminths and malnutrition: a cross-sectional survey of school children in the South-Tongu district of Ghana

Table 1 Baseline study outcomes

Parameter	Description	Number of children
Parameter	Description	Examined	Results
Malaria	Prevalence, 9.2 %	404	37
Causative species	Plasmodium falciparum only	404	37
Children with asymptomatic P. falciparum infections	Asexual parasitaemia, no clinical symptoms	47	37
Children with severe malaria	Asexual parasitaemia, severe disease symptoms	47	0
Children with uncomplicated malaria	Asexual parasitaemia, history of fever, absence of severe disease symptoms	47	0
Intestinal helminths	None identified	404	0
Urinary schistosomiasis	Prevalence, 2.5 %	404	10
Causative species	Schistosoma haematobium only	404	10
Haematuria as prognosis for S. haematobium infection	None identified	404	0
Co-infections with different parasites	None identified	404	0
Anaemia of any type	73.0 %	404	295
Severe	4.2 %	404	17
Moderate	47.3 %	404	191
Mild	21.5 %	404	87
Weight-for-age Z score <−2 (stunted)	22.3 % (95 % CI 15.0–35.4)	404	90
Height-for-age Z score <−2 (wasted)	8.4 % (95 % CI 4.6–13.8)	404	34
Weight-for-height Z score <−2 (underweight)	21.5 % (95 % CI 17.7–25.9)	404	87

Height-for-age Z score, weight-for-height Z score, and weight-for-age Z score expressed with standard deviation; CI confidence interval

ISSN: 1756-0500