Ghana makes progress in Roll Back Malaria

Accra, April 25, GNA - Out patients malaria cases has dropped from 3,552, 836 in 2003 to 3,045,949 since the inception of the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Initiative in 1999, indicating a progress in the control of malaria, Mrs Aba Baffoe Wilmot, an Entomologist with the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) said on Tuesday. She said admissions attributed to malaria cases has also dropped from 39,497 in 2003 to 19,149 whilst malaria case fatality rate in children in 20 selected Global Fund districts from 2003 to 2005 has also dropped from 3.26 to 2.29.
Speaking at the Ghana Health Service (GHS) monthly health promotion talk to mark Africa Malaria Day, on April 25, under the theme "Get your ACT Together. Universal Access to Effective Malaria Treatment is a Human Right," Dr Baffoe-Wilmot said though the history of malaria control in Ghana had gone through a checkered pathway from eradication to RBM, there had been an improvement.
The focus of this year's Africa Malaria day is on ensuring that all malaria patients have access to effective treatment without hindrance. It also commemorated the milestone on the attainment of the Abuja targets of reduction by 60 per cent of children under-five years and pregnant women to sleep under Intermitted Treated Nets (ITN). "The Abuja targets by 2005 also sets reduction by 60 per cent of pregnant women on appropriate chemoprophylaxis and reduction by 60 per cent of children under five years with fever will have prompt access to care."
Dr Baffoe-Wilmot noted that malaria was not caused by mosquito but by the four human malaria parasites namely; Plasmodium Falciparum, Plasmodium Malariae, Plasmodium Ovale and Plasmodium Vavax and the most common and most dangerous was the Plasmodium Falciparum. She said malaria was transmitted or spread naturally through the bite of an infective female anopheles mosquito, which accounted for about 95 per cent of malaria cases in Ghana. Dr Baffoe-Wilmot noted that it was the mosquito that caused cerebral malaria that accounted for significant portion of the disease burden in Ghana, a major cause of poverty, low productivity and work absenteeism in Ghana.
She said about 3,000,000 cases of malaria were recorded annually with a total of 38,803 deaths yearly and under five deaths recording 16,437 representing 22 per cent. Dr Baffoe-Wilmot said the cost of malaria illness in Ghana was estimated at 21,965 cedis per capita income. "This figure is equivalent to 9.74 per cent of per capita by Government expenditure on health and an average cost per case to the Ministry of Health and GHS is estimated at 24,571.53 cedis," she added. She said despite the headway made in RBM, the NMCP was faced with challenges such as the new malaria drug policy, which replaced chloroquine with Artesunate Amodiaquine, ensuring its availability, the role of laboratory and rapid diagnostic test kits and ensuring the correct diagnosis of malaria.
Other problem areas included the attempt to reduce other diseases such as typhoid, hepatitis, influenza and meningitis, which first was treated as malaria and ensured that more ITNs reached everyone and described it as a "difficult terrain...even four wheeled driven vehicles breakdown."
She called on Ghanaians to keep the environment clean, sleep under ITNs, especially children under five and pregnant women and endeavour to have access to the new drug and take it according to the guidelines. Nana Dr Antwi-Agyei, Programme Manager of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI), urged Ghanaians to regard the mosquito as an enemy and fight it to reduce the burden and spread of malaria. A message by the World Health Organisation (WHO) Africa Regional Director, Dr Luis Gomes Sambo said countries across the continent did not reach the Abuja targets and malaria continued to be the major public health problem.
He called on governments to subsidise the cost of Artemisinin-based Combination Therapies (ACTs) to ensure that the price did not constitute an obstacle to access by those in need and were also made available in every home. "At country level, governments will need to move faster to translate their decisions to change their treatment policies into implementation of the new ACT policies for all the 33 countries by the end of the year." 25 April 06