Impacts of Small Scale Mining on Malaria among Children in Ghana

Impacts of Small Scale Mining on Malaria among Children in Ghana | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Impacts of Small Scale Mining on Malaria among Children in Ghana Adrian Amaya, Joseph Eshun This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8502695/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This study examines the causal relationship between artisanal small-scale mining (ASM) activity and malaria incidence among children under five years old in Ghana, a country with high malaria prevalence and significant ASM activity. Using a difference-indifferences design, we leverage expansions in the ASM spatial footprint to compare areas that are newly exposed to mining activity to areas that remain far from it, before and after the expansion. We find that newly-exposed areas have a higher probability of malaria infection among children by about 20 percentage points. Our estimates are robust to alternative specifications, various proximity thresholds, and random simulated spatial displacements. These results highlight the health risks associated with ASM expansion and suggest the need for targeted interventions to reduce malaria transmission in mining-adjacent communities. JEL Codes: I15, Q53, O13 Artisanal small-scale mining (ASM) malaria children under five difference-in-differences (DiD) environmental health Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8502695","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":585072303,"identity":"660182f5-c3d9-4c0c-a857-440e3e839753","order_by":0,"name":"Adrian Amaya","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Hawai‘i at M¯ anoa","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Adrian","middleName":"","lastName":"Amaya","suffix":""},{"id":585072304,"identity":"45b2fd2d-d410-4565-b773-c94ef66fe16b","order_by":1,"name":"Joseph Eshun","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAyUlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACxgYGNiBlkwDiHEgACxCnJY0ELUAA0nI4AckMAoC5vf3ZY94d5/P4ZyQ/PPCAwUZ2wwFCDus5Y27Me+Z2scSNNAOgw9KMCWuZkcMmzdt2O7HhdgJIy+FEwlrmP38G1HIucf7t9A9ALf+J0DKDwQyo5UDihts5IFsOEKGlJ8dMcm5bcuLG+28KDiQYJBvPJKTFsP34M4m3bXaJ884c3/zxR4WdbB9BLQ0oXAMCykFAngg1o2AUjIJRMNIBAPuLTBJ5tjKAAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"University of Hawai‘i at M¯ anoa","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Joseph","middleName":"","lastName":"Eshun","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-01-02 18:08:18","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8502695/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8502695/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":106393078,"identity":"fdcf2721-ba7d-4bf8-8e94-18c9e71529fe","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-08 07:30:08","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1646857,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"SmallScaleandMalariainGhana.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8502695/v1_covered_574145f2-bcf2-4d5f-9291-271fa167a0d1.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Impacts of Small Scale Mining on Malaria among Children in Ghana","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Artisanal small-scale mining (ASM), malaria, children under five, difference-in-differences (DiD), environmental health","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8502695/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8502695/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThis study examines the causal relationship between artisanal small-scale mining (ASM) activity and malaria incidence among children under five years old in Ghana, a country with high malaria prevalence and significant ASM activity. 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