Reliability of Rapid Diagnostic Tests in the Diagnosis of Malaria amongst Children attending the Outpatient Department of the Tetteh Quarshie Memorial Hospital in the Akuapem North District of the Eastern Region of Ghana

Abstract

Treatment of malaria, with the appropriate diagnostic tool, helps to reduce morbidity and mortality in children. The absence of resources and inadequate labor in emerging countries like Ghana make malaria microscopy difficult. The Rapid Diagnostic Test kit (RDT) remains unpopular despite its availability and ease of use because of limited research on its effectiveness leading to over­ prescription of antimalarial drugs. This study shows how reliable the malaria diagnostic test is. Out of 132 children were recruited in all into the study with more females (59.1%) than males (40.9%). 35 (26.5%) of children who were recruited tested positive for Plasmodium falciparum with the Malaria rapid diagnostic test cassette while 97 (73.5%) children tested negative for Plasmodium falciparum with the malaria diagnostic test cassette. In Malaria Microscopy, 35 (26.5%) children tested positive while 97 (73.5%) tested negative for malaria parasites. Out of the 35 children who tested positive, RDT picked 33 as positive and 2 as negative (sensitivity = 94.3%). While out of the 97 that tested negative for microscopy, RDT picked 94 as negative and 3 as positive (specificity= 96.9%). The positive predictive value and negative predictive values are 91.7% and 97.9%, respectively.This clearly shows the Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) is an effective diagnostic tool for the testing of malaria in children in the Akuapem North District in the Eastern Region of Ghana.