Restricting the Use of Artesunate Plus Amodiaquine Combination Therapy to Malaria Cases Confirmed by a Dipstick Test: A Cluster Randomised Control Trial

Overview

Effective use of Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) and artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) depends on the accuracy and safety of RDT based treatment practices and on factors related to the health delivery system. We propose to study the accuracy and safety of RDT based diagnosis and treatment of febrile illness, health system determinants of effective use of RDTs and the public health outcomes of RDT based ACT for malaria.A cluster randomised trial of RDT based versus clinical judgment based treatment of febrile illness on the incidence of malaria in \<48 month old children will be conducted. Health Centres will be randomly allocated to RDT based treatment or clinical judgment based treatment arm and children under 2years of age from the catchment area of each health centre will be followed for 2 years. The cost effectiveness of RDT based approach will be compare with the clinical judgement based treatment.

Two-stage, four component study Stage I - Component A: Accuracy of RDT and the outcome of treatment based on RDT results Primary outcome:What is the sensitivity and specificity of Paracheck cassettes in Ghana to diagnose malaria? Stage 1 - Component B: delivery system determinants of effective RDT based ACT Primary outcome: What are the delivery system determinants of effective RDT based ACT? Stage 2 - Component A: effects of restricted use of ACTs based on RDT results: a randomised controlled trial Primary outcome: Incidence of malaria (fever + any level of parasite density) in \< 48 month-old children Stage 2 - component B: Cost effectiveness analysis: Primary outcome:What is the cost effectiveness of RDT based ACT for treatment of children under 4 years compared with ACT based on clinical judgement?