Efforts intensified to curb malaria among children in Upper East
The Ghana Health Service (GHS) in the Upper East Region has begun a vaccination exercise as part of efforts to reduce the incidence of malaria among children between the ages of three months and five years in the region.
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Dubbed the Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (SMC), the exercise, which took off last Monday and will end in November 2016, is targeting 215,845 children.
The intervention has also become necessary because the results of the 2011 survey, which is the latest of a study conducted in the region every five years, showed that the incidence of malaria among children in the three regions of the north was high compared to the regions down south.
The survey showed that the Upper East Region recorded 44 per cent of children under five years as having tested positive to malaria parasites in 2011 whereas the Greater Accra Region for instance recorded as low as four per cent.
The outcome of the next survey is expected to be released later this year or in 2017.
Briefing
Briefing the media on the exercise in Bolgatanga, the Regional Director of the GHS, Dr Kofi Issah, announced that an amount of GH¢1,622,020 would be spent on the exercise during the four-month period.
According to him, Ghana and other member states of the World Health Organisation (WHO) were adopting such measures including the SMC to significantly reduce the incidence of malaria among children under five years.
Dr Issah further explained that the SMC exercise had been proven by the WHO as a more cost-effective means of reducing malaria among children in Ghana and Africa in general, saying that "reducing malaria among children is morally and economically justifiable, especially as children form part of the vulnerable segment of the society".
He, therefore, called on caregivers, opinion leaders, traditional rulers, the media and community-based organisations (CBOs) to support the exercise to make it successful and help reduce malaria among children in the region.
Men A Campaign
Touching on the outcome of the "Men A Campaign" against Cerebro-Spinal Meningitis in the region that was carried out between July 20 and 26, 2016, Dr Issah stated that the exercise achieved 94.5 per cent coverage among the targeted 134,917 children under five years.
The director observed that the exercise was carried out at the time the region experienced torrential rains within the week-long exercise, and the region fell short by 0.5 per cent because it had targeted a 95 per cent coverage.
The Regional Officer of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), Mr Zakaria Braimah, for his part, entreated the media to support efforts at reducing the burden of malaria among children by sending the right information to the people.
