Stakeholders to sustain malaria control
Stakeholders in malaria control have met at Coaltar, a town in the Ayensuano District in the Eastern Region, to strategise on how best to sustain the control of the malaria disease in rural communities.
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The stakeholders say they have chalked up success in reducing malaria prevalence in the district, hence the need to sustain the achievement.
The forum was organised by AMPA Resource Foundation, which was formed through the efforts of four Ghanaians and one Canadian, who saw the need to offer social service and health education to rural communities.
The participants in the forum, who were mostly community-based health volunteers, were enlightened on malaria in pregnancy, its causes, prevention and treatment.
On sustaining malaria control, the stakeholders suggested the need for the Ghana Health Service to ensure that malaria drugs were released on time to facilitate the fight against the disease.
The forum said effective licensed vaccines as well as drugs against malaria were urgently needed to effectively control drug-resistant malaria parasites.
The stakeholders entreated the government to import effective diagnostic machines to aid health officers to effectively control malaria.
The participants indicated the need for all and sundry to join efforts at increasing sensitisation on the usage of mosquito-treated nets since it was one of the the cheapest ways of controlling malaria
Mr Prosper Agbagbah, Regional Health Director in charge of Malaria Control Programme, urged the stakeholders to pay their dues by “taming” malaria in the area through active participation in the sensitisation exercises.
“If Rwanda, in spite of its underdevelopment and wars, has been able to eradicate malaria, it means we in Ghana can also work to eradicate the disease,” he said.
Mr Emmanuel K. Mintah, Executive Director of AMPA, said the organisation was committed to improving the lives of the underserved in the country.
AMPA undertakes community-based interventions and social development initiatives in its working communities, which cover public health education, good sanitation campaigns, civic engagements on education improvement, preservation of the environment and public interest advocacy.
Currently, the organisation operates in six districts in the Brong-Ahafo and Eastern regions.
Source: GNA