Prampram(GAR), April 24, GNA - A study to treat fever in under-five children to measure the possible reduction of death rates at the home or community level has begun in 372 communities in the Dangme West District in the Greater Accra Region.

Fever is a very common symptom in children suffering from malaria, pneumonia and other diseases and it is easy to associate every type of fever with malaria.

The study therefore, seeks to find out how death rates would be reduced significantly by using both anti-malaria and antibiotics to treat a child with fever.

Malaria and pneumonia account for about 45 per cent of deaths among under-five children in the country, with malaria alone taking 25 per cent of the figure.

Dr Amanua Chinbuah, Public Health Specialist at the Research Unit of Ghana Health Service, told journalists at Prampram in the Greater Accra Region that children suffering from malaria and pneumonia had similar symptoms.

They do not eat well, may convulse and have a fever. She said prompt diagnosis and effective treatment of fever at the community level were very important to reduce mortality rates.

The journalists from the African Media Malaria Research Network are on a tour of the trial site as part of their activities to mark this year's World Malaria Day, which falls on the April 25.

Dr Chinbuah said children participating in the study were given the anti-malaria, artesunate-amodiaquine and an antibiotic, amoxicillin, when the care givers reported to trained community-based agents (CBAs) who examined, treated or referred the child to a health facility when it was beyond them.

She said some 800 CBAs had been recruited for the study, which began in 2005 with funding from the Dutch government, the World Health Organisation and the Ghana Government.

Dr Chinbuah said not all the children were given the two drugs when they had a fever. Some were only given the anti-malaria and this was to facilitate the study to come out with the proper findings on the usefulness or otherwise of using the two drugs.

She said it was very important that fever among children was treated quickly at home or community level since it could progress and end up with fatal consequences.

Hence, Dr Chinbuah said, the administration of the two drugs at the community level by the CBAs was to find out if the study would reduce mortality significantly among these children.