Nkoranza (B/A), Dec. 29, GNA - Mr. Emmanuel Kwadwo Agyekum, Nkoranza South District Chief executive, has called for more investment towards the control of malaria, since the disease is a major cause of deaths in most communities.
He was addressing about 50 selected stakeholders at a one-day workshop on malaria control and advocacy at Nkoranza.
It was organised by the "Voices for Malaria-Free Future Ghana" with the aim of setting up an advocacy team whose members would carry out intensive sensitization and fight against the disease in the district.
"Voices for Malaria-Free Future Ghana" is an initiative jointly launched by John Hopkins University's Centre for Communications Programme and the Ghana Health Service, with the aim of creating an enabling environment for aggressive malaria control in the communities.
Mr. Agyekum said since malaria was claiming more lives than the HIV/AIDS pandemic, there was the need for all to join in the campaign of promoting good sanitation to stop the breeding of mosquitoes.
The DCE commended the organizers of the workshop for selecting the district to participate in the programme and gave the assurance that the Assembly would support the programme to help free the people from the disease.
Mr. Richard Kwasi Hinneh, district director of health services, noted that malaria had been a major cause of death since the Gold Coast era when a number of missionaries and colonialists fell victim to it in the country and in Africa as a whole.
He said the disease was the most prevalent in all health facilities in the district and occupied the first place on the list of top 10 out-patient and in-patient departments in the district's health institutions.
Mr. Hinneh said the district directorate of health services had recorded 145 deaths from malaria cases between 2006 and 2009, apart from those who might have died in their homes.
The district director noted that children aged below five and pregnant women were the most vulnerable to the disease, and that without proper care and immediate attention they could lose their lives in the event of an attack.
He advised people to patronize the treated mosquito nets to guard against mosquito bites and avoid malaria.
Ms. Vivian Abiu, programme officer of John Hopkins University Centre for Communications Programme, said "Voices for Malaria-Free Future Ghana" had the vision to check the devastating effects of malaria in the country, and appealed to stakeholders to help in the advocacy programme.
Madam Victoria Tetteh, advised pregnant women to attend ante-natal clinic regularly to receive preventive care to save they and their unborn babies from the disease.
GNA
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