Abstract

Malaria is highly endemic in Guinea, which is among the poorest countries of the world. Concern for illness and death due to malaria in the country is further aggravated by growing evidence of increasing parasite resistance to treatment with chloroquine, the drug of choice. This project will determine the prevalence and seasonal distribution of chloroquine resistant malaria in the community. The study will also examine the availability and utilization practices of antimalarial drugs by the population. The study will be carried out through visits to selected households in representative regions of the country. Coded questionnaires will be used for interviews and "in vivo" drug sensitivity tests will be conducted according to World Health Organization guidelines.

Post-Project Summary

Because of time constraints, researchers reoriented the project objective from an examination of the seasonal fluctuation in plasmodium infection (malaria) to a 1-time snapshot of its prevalence. Of the 253 children included in a sample survey, 74% (186) were infected. Within the set of infected children, the most prevalent species of plasmodium was plasmodium falciparum, the severest form of malaria, at 74%, followed by P. malariae (20%), and P. ovale (6%). No resistance to chloroquine was uncovered.

It was concluded that all of the surveyed primary health care clinics had adequate supplies of chloroquine; that over one-third of all visits to the clinics were for treatment of malaria; and that distance was an obstacle to health service utilization for 60% of the population. With assistance from UNICEF, Guinea was one of the first countries to pioneer an integrated primary health care program. This project represented the first research applied to the national program.

Recipient Institution(s)