New Strategy To Fight Malaria

The Greater Accra Region (GAR) of the Ghana Health Services (GHS) has collaborated with the media to lead in the campaign of fighting malaria.

And through the media, the GAR GHS announced the registration of all households from November 6 to November 12 this year, for a later free Point Mass Distribution (PMD) of Long Lasting Insecticide Treated Nets (LLINs).

In these seven days, trained registration assistants with identification tags would move from house-to-house and register households and, subsequently, issue them with code cards, prior to the distribution from November 22 to 28.

The free LLINs would be given to only registered persons who could present their electronically generated code cards, when they show them at designated collection points in their metropolis, municipalities or districts.

LLINs are one of the vector control tools the GHS, since 2003, has promoted, including several approaches, to drastically reduce malaria cases at the various health facilities.

Records at the GAR GHS show that, the number of malaria cases at the Out Patient Department (OPD), from 2014 to 2017, have reduced from 44,327 to 34,896 and Dr Charity Sarpong, GAR Director of GHS, was hopeful of a further drastic reduction or elimination of malaria in future, should Ghanaians change their behaviour and attitudes towards their environment.

This year's PMD is a revised campaign strategy by the GAR GHS and partners to register, at least, 90 percent households and same for collection by November 28.

The GAR GHS has in stock a little above 2.7 million nets for about four million people, and to ensure that every household is not left out, the GHS would provide one to two households.

Persons living in prayer and military camps, schools with boarders, persons who unfortunately sleep at the bud terminals, markets and under bridges would not be captured by the trained registration assistants.

Dr Sarpong urged residents in gated communities to permit the GHS trained registration assistants into their homes to register them, and pleaded that wild dogs in the communities should be caged to prevent any harm on their assistants.

Centre 4^th
Methodist Church honours late Prof. Kwesi Andam
 From Sebastian R. Freiku, Kumasi
 As part of its 180th anniversary, the Wesley Methodist Cathedral at Adum in Kumasi has conferred honours on deserving committed members of the Church for their contribution to its growth.

Among the recipients who were posthumously honoured were the late; Prof Kwesi Andam, former Vice Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).

Others are Lawyer J.E. Conduah Lutterodt, Papa Attakora Gyimah (alias Quo Warranto), J. W. Tsiboe, the founder of the Pioneer Newspaper, J. K. Tsiboe MD of Pioneer Newspaper and Lawyer Kwasi Boakye.

The citation for the late Prof Kwesi Andam was received for and on behalf of the widow, Prof Mrs. Aba Bentil Andam, by Nana Ninsin-Imbeah II, ex-Nyimfahen of the Mfantseman Council in Ashanti while she (Mrs. Andam) was on assignment outside the country.

The citation has been presented to the late Prof. Andam's widow in Accra at a short ceremony, which was witnessed by Prof Aryeetey and Mr. Emmanuel Asina, a Deputy Director at the Head Office of Ghana Highway Authority.