About MAVARECA-II

MAVARECA-II is a malaria research and capacity-building collaboration between University of Copenhagen and University of Ghana.

Background

Malaria is a leading cause of infectious disease morbidity and mortality in large parts of the world, particularly in tropical Africa south of the Sahara. It is estimated that there were about 8 million malaria cases and about 14,000 malaria-related deaths in Ghana in 2017, making the country  the seventh-most malaria-affected countries in Africa. In the West African region, only Nigeria (52%) and Burkina Faso (8%) carries a larger share of the regional malaria burden than Ghana (7%). The number of malaria cases increased by more than 100,000 between 2016 and 2017 [WHO World Malaria Report 2018].

The Ghana Health Services regards the  ”high numbers of malaria cases… reported by [Ghana] health facilities despite the roll out of interventions over the years and declining community level prevalence” as a major obstacle to the country’s ability to attain the internally agreed Millenium Development Goals [Ghana Health Services: National health research agenda 2015-2019].

Research addressing the cause of, and identifying means to reduce, this key problem is therefore of high national priority in Ghana.