In Ghana, around million people were diagnosed with malaria in 2024, which was a drop from the previous year, which had reported close to million such cases. Within the period studied, the number of confirmed cases of the illness fluctuated heavily. Moreover, malaria is reported as mostly affecting children under the age of five in Ghana.
Distinct variation in the reported number of deaths
The number of diagnosed malaria cases in Ghana is high, but has decreased over the years. This is accompanied by deaths from the illness, although there are significant discrepancies in value based on the methodology used. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that approximately individuals in the country died in the same year due to the disease, whereas the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) estimates that malaria killed people. The methods used to determine the cause of death produced different estimations. For example, the IHME often relies on so-called 'verbal autopsies' to compile death-toll estimates, in contrast to the WHO, which relies on the stated cause of death.