The art of malaria education: an arts-based malaria education model, Pepease-Kwahu, Ghana
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20195443Keywords:
Malaria, Health education, Creative artsAbstract
Background: Malaria is a major health concern in Ghana as well as other countries in West Africa, where it is estimated that more than 300 million people are at risk of malaria infection. While prior research has highlighted promising school-based interventions often facilitated through textbook information or teacher-based lectures to promote awareness about the disease, less is known as to how well such interventions are able to actively involve and engage students in learning about malaria in their schools.
Methods: This research examines the role of the performing arts as a heuristic for student-centered teaching and learning about malaria. Using a convergent parallel mixed-methods study design, an arts-based malaria education model was deployed in a junior high school in Pepease-Kwahu, Ghana.
Results: The proposed product included a peer-peer education model through which students (n=77) demonstrated their learning of malaria through their own creation and participation in poetry, song, dance, and drama performances. Pre- and post- paper-based surveys, coupled with focus groups with student participants (n=10) were used to examine the impact of this program.
Conclusions: Research findings currently show that the arts-based malaria education program can be beneficial to students, by requiring them to use the performing arts to engage with information about malaria transmission, prevention, and treatment. Students correctly identified that the malarial parasite is transmitted by a mosquito bite, and they correctly identified symptoms of malaria, although students were reluctant to say that they will regularly use insecticide-treated bed nets as a preventive measure for malaria.
References
Ayi I, Nonaka D, Adjovu JK, Hanafusa S, Jimba M, Bosompem KM, et al. School-based participatory health education for malaria control in Ghana: engaging children as health messengers. Malaria J. 2010;9:98.
White NJ, Pukrittayakamee S, Hien TT, Faiz MA, Mokuolu OA, Dondorp AM. Malaria. Lancet (London, England). 2014;383(9918):723–35.
Arrow KJ, Panosian C, Gelband H (eds). Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on the Economics of Antimalarial Drugs; The Parasite, the Mosquito, and the Disease. Saving Lives, Buying Time: Economics of Malaria Drugs in an Age of Resistance. Washington D.C. The National Academies Press; 2004: 136-167.
Cowman AF, Berry D, Baum J. The cellular and molecular basis for malaria parasite invasion of the human red blood cell. J Cell Biol. 2012;198(6):961–71.
Mohandas N, An X. Malaria and human red blood cells. Med Microbiol Immun 2012;201(4):593–8.
Awine T, Malm K, Bart-Plange C, Silal SP. Towards malaria control and elimination in Ghana: challenges and decision making tools to guide planning. Global Health Action. 2017;10(1):138-47.
Ghana Health Service. 2016 National Malaria control Programme Annual Report. National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP), 2016. Available at: https://ghanahealthservice.org/ downloads/NMCP_2015_ANNUAL_REPORT.pdf. Accessed on 28 September 2019.
Ghana Health Service. The Ghana Malaria Control Programme Periodic Bulletin. National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP), 9th edition. 2017. Available at: https://ghanahealthservice.org/ downloads/2017-1st_Quarter_Bulletin.pdf. Accessed on 28 September 2019.
Ghana District Health Information System (DHIMS2), April 2019. Retrieved from personal correspondence in April, 2019.
Ameme DK, Afari EA, Nyarko KM, Malm KL, Sackey S, Wurapa F. Direct observation of outpatient management of malaria in a rural Ghanaian district. Pan African Med J. 2014;19:367.
Smith Paintain L, Awini E, Addei S, Kukula V, Nikoi C, Sarpong D, et al. Evaluation of a universal long-lasting insecticidal net (LLIN) distribution campaign in Ghana: cost effectiveness of distribution and hang-up activities. Malaria J. 2014;13(1):71.
Killeen GF, Smith TA, Ferguson HM, Mshinda H, Abdulla S, Lengeler C. Preventing Childhood Malaria in Africa by Protecting Adults from Mosquitoes with Insecticide-Treated Nets. PLOS Med. 2007;4(7):229.
Afoakwah C, Nunoo J, Andoh FK. Effect of insecticide-treated bed net usage on under-five mortality in northern Ghana. Malaria J. 2015;14:309.
Afriyie DK, Amponsah SK, Antwi R, Nyoagbe SY, Bugyei KA. Prescribing trend of antimalarial drugs at the Ghana Police Hospital. Journal of Infection in Developing Countries. 2015;9(4):409–15.
De Silva PM, Marshall JM. Factors Contributing to Urban Malaria Transmission in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Systematic Review. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2012;2012:Article ID 819563.
Dinko B, Amakpa E, Kweku M, Amoah P, Tampuori J, Adjuik M, et al. Plasmodium falciparum malaria cases detected for prompt treatment by rapid diagnostic tests in the Ho Teaching Hospital of the Volta Region of Ghana. Parasite Epidemiol Control. 2018;3(3):e00072.
De La Cruz N, Crookston B, Dearden K, Gray B, Ivins N, Alder S, et al. Who sleeps under bednets in Ghana? A doer/non-doer analysis of malaria prevention behaviours. Malaria J. 2006;5(1):61.
Nyavor KD, Kweku M, Agbemafle I, Takramah W, Norman I, Tarkang E, et al. Assessing the ownership, usage and knowledge of Insecticide Treated Nets (ITNs) in Malaria Prevention in the Hohoe Municipality, Ghana. Pan African Medical J. 2017;28:67.
Rhee M, Sissoko M, Perry S, McFarland W, Parsonnet J, Doumbo O. Use of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) following a malaria education intervention in Piron, Mali: a control trial with systematic allocation of households. Malaria J. 2005;4:35.
Creswell JW. Research Design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. 4th edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications; 2014.
McLeroy KR, Bibeau D, Steckler A, Glanz K. An Ecological Perspective on Health Promotion Programs. Health Educ Q. 1988;15(4):351–77.
Frishkopf M, Hamze H, Alhassan M, Zukpeni IA, Abu S, Zakus D. Performing arts as a social technology for community health promotion in northern Ghana. Family Med Community Health. 2016;4(1):22–36.
Ghosh SK, Patil RR, Tiwari S, Dash AP. A community-based health education programme for bio-environmental control of malaria through folk theatre (Kalajatha in rural India) Malaria J. 2006;5(1):123.
Gotfried EA. Knowledge Transmission by Story Telling Malaria Education of School-Aged Children in the Kwahu- Eastern Region, Ghana “Anansi Tricks Mrs. Mosquito. European Scienti J. 2014;10(10).
Okabayashi H, Thongthien P, Singhasvanon P, Waikagul J, Looareesuwan S, Jimba M, et al. Keys to success for a school-based malaria control program in primary schools in Thailand. Parisitol Int. 2006;55(2):121–6.
