# Characterizing the spatial epidemiology of urban malaria infection in Accra, Ghana (MUSE)

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA · 2024 · $183,354

## Abstract

SUMMARY
Ghana is one of the countries with the greatest Plasmodium falciparum malaria burden, with case trends
increasing in recent years. There is a critical gap in research and programmatic efforts to understand
malaria epidemiology in urban settings in high-burden countries. The overall research goal of this project is
to generate the evidence base to determine strategies to effectively monitor and target interventions
appropriate for urban environments in Accra, Ghana, a typical African city in a high-burden country.
Through paired clinical incidence data and three household-based cross-sectional surveys in 13 health
facility catchment areas, we will: 1) characterize the malaria epidemiology across a transmission season
using reported clinical incidence and household-based surveys; 2) Quantify the degree of bias in routine
surveillance data due to non-care-seeking malaria infections in an urban setting; 3) Assess the ability of
routine malaria surveillance data to identify fine-scale spatial heterogeneity of malaria infections; and 4)
determine the degree of infections clustering in households to justify whether targeted strategies are
appropriate for the urban setting. The results of this study will fill a critical gap in understanding urban
malaria epidemiology and promote data-driven decision-making to ensure malaria control strategies are
appropriate and can adapt to the local context.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10796900
- **Project number:** 5R21AI171225-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA
- **Principal Investigator:** Gordon Akanzuwine Awandare
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $183,354
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-02-28 → 2026-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10796900

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10796900, Characterizing the spatial epidemiology of urban malaria infection in Accra, Ghana (MUSE) (5R21AI171225-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-12 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10796900. Licensed CC0.

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