Correction: Profiles of Plasmodium falciparum infections detected by microscopy through the first year of life in Kintampo a high transmission area of Ghana.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

Exposure to carbon monoxide and particulate matter among cassava grits processors in the middle belt of Ghana: a cross-sectional study.

Introduction: exposure to smoke from biomass combustion during economic activities is a major health risk. One of such commercial activities that use biomass fuel is gari (cassava grits) processing. Cassava grits is a staple food produced from grated and fermented cassava.

Profiles of Plasmodium falciparum infections detected by microscopy through the first year of life in Kintampo a high transmission area of Ghana.

Although malaria mortality among children under five years of age is high, the characteristics of their infection patterns are not well described. The aim of this study was to examine the longitudinal sequence pattern of Plasmodium falciparum infections in the first year of life within a birth cohort in Kintampo, Ghana (N = 1855). Infants were monitored at home with monthly sampling and also at the clinic for any febrile illness between 2008 and 2011.

Current respiratory symptoms and risk factors in pregnant women cooking with biomass fuels in rural Ghana.

Background: More than 75% of the population in Ghana relies on biomass fuels for cooking and heating. Household air pollution (HAP) emitted from the incomplete combustion of these fuels has been associated with adverse health effects including respiratory effects in women that can lead to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a major contributor to global HAP-related mortality. HAP is a modifiable risk factor in the global burden of disease, exposure to which can be reduced.

Ambulatory monitoring demonstrates an acute association between cookstove-related carbon monoxide and blood pressure in a Ghanaian cohort.

Background: Repeated exposure to household air pollution may intermittently raise blood pressure (BP) and affect cardiovascular outcomes. We investigated whether hourly carbon monoxide (CO) exposures were associated with acute increases in ambulatory blood pressure (ABP); and secondarily, if switching to an improved cookstove was associated with BP changes. We also evaluated the feasibility of using 24-h ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) in a cohort of pregnant women in Ghana.

Knowledge of antibiotic resistance and antibiotic prescription practices among prescribers in the Brong Ahafo Region of Ghana; a cross-sectional study.

Background: Antibiotic resistance (ABR) has become a major public health challenge in most parts of the world including Ghana and is a major threat to gain in bacterial disease control. The role of prescribers in the control of antibiotics is identified as crucial in developing interventions to control ABR. To guide policy recommendations on ABR, a study was carried out among prescribers to identify gaps in their knowledge of ABR and to document their prescription practices.

Urinary Concentrations of Insecticide and Herbicide Metabolites among Pregnant Women in Rural Ghana: A Pilot Study.

Unlabelled: Use of pesticides by households in rural Ghana is common for residential pest control, agricultural use, and for the reduction of vectors carrying disease. However, few data are available about exposure to pesticides among this population. Our objective was to quantify urinary concentrations of metabolites of organophosphate (OP), pyrethroid, and select herbicides during pregnancy, and to explore exposure determinants.

Non-malaria fevers in a high malaria endemic area of Ghana.

Background: The importance of fevers not due to malaria [non-malaria fevers, NMFs] in children in sub-Saharan Africa is increasingly being recognised. We have investigated the influence of exposure-related factors and placental malaria on the risk of non-malaria fevers among children in Kintampo, an area of Ghana with high malaria transmission.

Methods: Between 2008 and 2011, a cohort of 1855 newborns was enrolled and followed for at least 12 months.

Pesticide exposures in a malarious and predominantly farming area in Central Ghana.

In areas where malaria is endemic, pesticides are widely deployed for vector control, which has contributed to reductions in malaria deaths. Pesticide use for agrarian purposes reduces pest populations, thus improving crop production and post-harvest losses. However, adverse health effects have been associated with pesticide exposure, ranging from skin irritation to neurotoxicity and carcinogenicity.

Association of Carbon Monoxide exposure with blood pressure among pregnant women in rural Ghana: Evidence from GRAPHS.

Background And Objective: The Ghana Randomized Air Pollution and Health Study (GRAPHS) is a community-level randomized-controlled trial of cookstove interventions for pregnant women and their newborns in rural Ghana. Given that household air pollution from biomass burning may be implicated in adverse cardiovascular outcomes, we sought to determine whether exposure to carbon monoxide (CO) from woodsmoke was associated with blood pressure (BP) among 817 adult women.

Methods: Multivariate linear regression models were used to evaluate the association between CO exposure, determined with 72 hour personal monitoring at study enrollment, and BP, also measured at study enrollment.

Ghana randomized air pollution and health study (GRAPHS): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Household air pollution exposure is a major health risk, but validated interventions remain elusive.

Methods/design: The Ghana Randomized Air Pollution and Health Study (GRAPHS) is a cluster-randomized trial that evaluates the efficacy of clean fuels (liquefied petroleum gas, or LPG) and efficient biomass cookstoves in the Brong-Ahafo region of central Ghana. We recruit pregnant women into LPG, efficient cookstove, and control arms and track birth weight and physician-assessed severe pneumonia incidence in the first year of life.

Gestational Age Assessment in the Ghana Randomized Air Pollution and Health Study (GRAPHS): Ultrasound Capacity Building, Fetal Biometry Protocol Development, and Ongoing Quality Control.

Background: Four million premature deaths occur yearly as a result of smoke from cooking fires. The Ghana Randomized Air Pollution and Health Study (GRAPHS) is underway in the Kintampo North municipality and South district of rural Ghana to evaluate the impact of improved cook stoves introduced during pregnancy on birth weight and childhood pneumonia. These hypotheses are being tested in a cluster-randomized intervention trial among 1415 maternal-infant pairs within 35 communities assigned to a control arm (traditional cooking) or one of two intervention arms (cooking with an improved biomass stove; cooking with liquefied petroleum gas stoves).

Placental malaria and the risk of malaria in infants in a high malaria transmission area in ghana: a prospective cohort study.

Background: Whether the risk of malaria is increased in infants born to mothers who experience malaria during pregnancy is uncertain.

Methods:  We investigated malaria incidence among an infant cohort born to 355 primigravidae and 1500 multigravidae with or without placental malaria (PM) in a high malaria transmission area of Ghana. PM was assessed using placental histology.