Dr. Belinda Nimako, a medical officer at the Tema Metropolitan Health Directorate, has advised parents to seek early treatment for malaria for their children to avoid complications and fatalities.

Dr. Nimako said if early treatment is not sought, serious forms of the disease may lead to convulsion, which would eventually affect their brains.

She was addressing a workshop in commemoration of Day of the African Child in Tema, on the theme: “Reducing Malaria in Schools: A key to achieve the MDGs and Sustainable Development in Education and Health.”

She said malaria is the number one disease that sends most people, especially children, to the Hospital.

The workshop was organised jointly by the Abibiman Foundation, a Tema-based NGO that promotes livelihoods, peace and development, and the International Day of the African Child and Youth (IDAY), a Network of NGOs that work with children in their communities for pupils in selected basic schools in Tema.

The schools are: Oninku One and Two Junior High Schools (JHS); Twedaase JHS; Akodzo JHS; and DEKS Educational Institute.

She reiterated the need for Ghanaians to sleep in insecticide treated mosquito nets to avoid the bites of the insects, thus minimizing the effects of malaria.

Ghanaians must also maintain clean environments and eat balanced diets to stay healthy, she said.

Mr. Ben Gyampo, President of the Tema Rotary Club, said promoting Maternal and Child Health Care is one of the key priorities of Rotarians in the area and pledged the club’s preparedness to assist health institutions in providing mothers and children with excellent health service delivery.

Mr. Frank Ebo-Mensah, Project Co-ordinator at IDAY, recounted that in 1976 thousands of black school children took to the streets of the South African town of Soweto, in a march more than half a mile long to protest against the inferior quality of their education and demand their right to be taught in their own language.

However, hundreds of young boys and girls were shot down by security forces and in the two weeks of protest that followed more than a hundred people were killed and more than a thousand injured.

He said to honor the memory of those killed and the courage of all those who marched, the Day of the African Child has been celebrated on June 16 every year since 1991, when it was first initiated by the Organisation of African Unity, now the African Union.**