Asante-Mampong (Ash), GNA - The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has stepped up the campaign to reduce the malaria disease in the Asante-Mampong Municipality. As part of this, a 10-day training workshop to expose health professionals to the new Malaria Drug Policy and the use of the rapid diagnosis kit had been held. This came on the heels of an earlier training on efficient management of the disease in pregnancy and control of the malaria vector. It was organized by the National Malaria Control Programme with support from the Global Fund.

Madam Rebecca Dokurugu, the Municipal Director of Health Services, said the goal is to ensure substantial reduction in deaths due to malaria, which is ranked among the 10 topmost diseases seen at the Out-Patients Department (OPD). In year 2010, there were a total of 64,590 reported cases in the Municipality out of which 2,430 were pregnancy related. Madam Dokurugu said they were determined to ensure effective and proper case management to bring relief to patients. She said already they were making progress in the fight against the disease and noted that, since the designation of the Asante-Mampong Hospital as one of the facilities for the control of the disease, under-five malaria cases had reduced from 750 in 2009 to 110 in 2010.

Madam Dokurugu advised the public to adopt preventive control measures by keeping their environment clean. Children under-five years of age should also sleep in treated bed- nets, she said, adding that, pregnant mothers should visit the health centres and avoid self-medication.