MALARIA: Ghana Records 3.5 Million Cases Every Year

Alex Segbefia, Ghana's Health Minister

Ghana records 3.5 million cases of malaria every year, Mr Samuel Addo, Sunyani Municipal Disease Control Officer has disclosed.

Speaking at a day’s training on behavioral change communication and microscope for malaria diagnosis, Mr Addo said 900,000 of the malaria cases are recorded among children less than five years.

The training organised by the Hope for Future Generations (HFFG), a health centered, non-governmental organisation with support from the UK Aid and attended by 70 licensed chemical sellers and health care providers in the Municipality.

Mr. Addo advised chemical sellers and healthcare providers to ensure that perceived malaria cases are tested and proved positive before they are treated.

He said if uncomplicated malaria is not treated promptly and correctly, it progresses into severe form, which easily kills especially children.

Mr Addo noted that patients with uncomplicated malaria have fever, headache, chills, profuse sweating as well as bone pains and often very weak. They may also have nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, cough, particularly in children and loss of appetite.

Malaria is a communicable disease, he said, advising households to observe proper personal hygiene and good environmental sanitation to avoid the spread of the disease.

Mr Addo said malaria symptoms usually appear between nine to 14 days after the bite of infective female Anopheles mosquitoes.

Mrs Rose Balaaboore, Project Coordinator of the HFFG, an organisation working to improve on the socioeconomic status of women and children explained that the training was in line with a six-month project the NGO is implementing in 100 communities in 10 districts and municipalities in the region.

Beneficiary communities are Sunyani, Wenchi and Techiman municipalities, Sunyani West, Dormaa East, Jaman North, Jaman South, Asutifi North, Tain and Banda districts.

Mrs Balaaboore explained that malaria treatment based on diagnostic testing is good clinical practice and has many advantages over presumptive treatment of all fever episodes.

Presumptive treatment of malaria, she indicated has adverse effects on patients as administration of malaria drugs without diagnostic test leads to drug resistance.

GNA

Editorial

MALARIA

The revelation that as many as 3.5 million cases of malaria are reported in Ghana annually must be exceedingly shocking.

This is because malaria can be eradicated and many countries, including the Island state of Cuba have managed to achieve that feat.

Why is Ghana not learning from the example of countries which have managed to defeat malaria given the fact that it is a killer disease which can drastically slow down productivity?

We recall that Ghana entered into an agreement with Cuba to eradicate malaria  and as a result the Cuban enterprise Labiofam started operations here.

What has happened to that project?

We urge the Ghanaian authorities to take real practical steps to eradicate malaria which has serious consequences for national economic development.