Dr Keziah Malm, the Programme Manager, National Malaria Control Programme is hopeful that the high malaria prevalence in Ghana will drop by 10 per cent in 100 Districts across the country by 2025.
She said plans were underway to ensure that the high malaria prevalence in Ghana was reduced to the barest minimum in the year 2025.
“We should be able to get about hundred Districts with malaria prevalence below 10 per cent, and we will be left with roughly around nine Districts just having prevalence more than 25 per cent, and this include making sure people sleep under the bed nets we distribute,” she said.
Dr Malm, who addressed the press in Accra, emphasised that “It’s not just about distributing the nets, and the indoor residual spraying, but having maximum use of the tools that are available.”
She said in 2021, there was an estimated 241 million cases of malaria recorded worldwide, and 627,000 deaths, out of which 77 per cent were children under-five years in the world.
The Programme Manager noted that African Regions unfortunately continue to carry the proportion of the global burden, which accounted for about 96 per cent of all malaria deaths.
She said even though Ghana was part of the top 11 countries with high malaria figures, it had over the decades experienced a decline in malaria mortality until 2019 and 2020 where the Covid-19 pandemic led to increase in malaria mortality.
Dr Malm expressed concern that urban cities in Ghana recorded high malaria prevalence, and cited the Eastern and Volta regions as the regions with high numbers in 2022.
“In 2021, 41 per cent of Out-Patient Department (OPD) attendance were due to suspected malaria, out of which we confirmed 5.7 million, and that accounted for 20 per cent Out-Patient attendance.
“19 per cent of admissions are due to malaria, Volta Region and Eastern Region are of worries to us because those are Regions with the highest malaria prevalence. The urban areas have more malaria cases than the rural areas. On the average, the rural areas have 19 per cent of children been positive for malaria parasite and urban 6.1 per cent,” Dr Malm disclosed.
Despite the increase, Dr Malm was optimistic that by the year 2025, the target to reduce malaria mortality rate by 90 per cent, and further reduce the number of malaria cases in Ghana to the barest minimum.
Speaking at the same press briefing, the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye said patient attendance to health facilities had reduced from 599 in 2017 to 275 in 2021 representing 50 per cent reduction across the country.
He further disclosed that the proportion of admission attributed to malaria had also declined from 22.6 per cent in 2017 to 19.6 per cent, and used the opportunity to admonish health professionals in the country to run malaria test before treatment.
Source:www.mywordfmonline.com/Gaspard Ayuureneeya .