Conference Abstract | Volume 9 (ConfPro8): Abstract 87 | Published: 11 Oct 2026
Williams Azumah Abanga1,&, Kwabena Adjei Sarfo2, Etowe Boye Yakubu3, Chrysantus Kubio3,4
1Saboba District Health Directorate, Ghana Health Service, Saboba, Ghana, 2Savannah Regional Health Directorate, Ghana Health Service, Damongo, Ghana, 3Northern Regional Health Directorate, Ghana Health Service, Tamale, Ghana, 4Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Fred N. Binka School of Public Health, University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho, Ghana
&Corresponding author: Williams Azumah Abanga, Saboba District Health Directorate, Ghana Health Service, Saboba, Ghana, Email: willabanga@gmail.com
Received: 11 Mar 2026, Accepted: 30 Aug 2026, Published: 11 Oct 2026
Domain: Infectious Disease Epidemiology
Keywords: Malaria, older children, adolescents, Northern Region, Ghana
©Williams Azumah Abanga et al. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health (ISSN: 2664-2824). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Cite this article: Williams Azumah Abanga et al,. Epidemiology of malaria among children and adolescents aged 5–19 years in the Northern Region, Ghana, 2020–2024: Insights from routine surveillance data for targeted intervention. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health. 2026;9(ConfPro8):87. https://doi.org/10.37432/JIEPH-CONFPRO8-0087
Malaria remains a public health problem in Ghana. Interventions largely focus on children under five and pregnant women, with little emphasis on older children and adolescents. This study determined the incidence, temporal and geographical patterns of malaria among children and adolescents aged 5–9 years in the Northern Region of Ghana to inform interventions towards malaria elimination.
A retrospective secondary data analysis was conducted using malaria data from the District Health Information Management System 2 (DHIMS2) from 2020 to 2024 in the Northern Region. The data was extracted by sex, age, district and year. Crude Poisson regression was used to estimate incidence rate ratios.
Over the period, 570,576 children and adolescents aged 5–19 years were suspected of malaria of which, 92.9% (530,130/570,576) were tested, with a positivity rate of 62.8% (332,685/530,130). The overall malaria incidence was 78.9 per 1,000 (95% CI: 78.6–79.1) and was significantly higher among females than males (IRR: 1.26, 95% CI: 1.25–1.27). Compared with children aged 5–9 years, incindence was significantly lower among adolescents aged 10–14 years (IRR: 0.62, 95% CI: 0.61–0.62), 15–17 years (IRR: 0.71, 95% CI: 0.70–0.72) and 18–19 years( IRR: 0.97, 95% CI: 0.96–0.98). There were marked inter-district disparities. All districts recorded higher incidence than Tamale Metropolis, with the highest in Saboba Saboba (IRR: 4.10, 95% CI: 4.0–4.14), Kpandai (IRR: 4.09, 95% CI: 4.03–4.16) and Karaga (IRR: 3.90, 95% CI: 3.83–3.96). Relative to 2020, the incidence was significantly higher in 2021–2023 and lower in 2024.
Malaria incidence among older children and adolescents in the Northern Region is high, particularly among females and children aged 5–9 years, with significant geographical disparities. Targeted interventions and further research are needed to address age- and sex-specific, and inter-district disparities.
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