VITAMIN-A SUPPLEMENTATION AND CHILDHOOD MALARIA IN NORTHERN GHANA

Two companion, randomized, placebo-controlled trials of prophylactic v itamin A supplementation provided the opportunity to assess the impact of supplementation on malaria parasitemia, morbidity, and mortality i n young children in northern Ghana. In the mortality study, 21 906 chi ldren were visited every 4 mo over 2 y, and in the morbidity study 145 5 children were visited weekly for 1 y. There was no difference betwee n children supplemented with vitamin A and those given placebo in mala ria mortality rates (rate ratio = 1.03; 95% CI 0.74, 1.43) or fever in cidence based on reported symptoms. Malaria parasitemia rates, parasit e densities in children with a positive blood smear, and rates of prob able malaria illness also did not differ between treatment groups. The re was no correlation between serum retinol at the beginning of the tr ial and subsequent malaria parasitemia in children who received placeb o (r = 0.01). It is concluded that vitamin A supplementation had no im pact on malaria in this population.