US official commends Ghana on its malaria prevention initiative

Nanton (N/R), May 6, GNA - Ms Cheryl Anderson, USAID Mission Director, on Thursday commended Ghana for its malaria prevention initiative that has helped reduce the spread of malaria to about 75 per cent in some areas. She said the US government would do its best to increase budgetary allocation to the initiative.

Ms Anderson said this when she led a US delegation to observe how the Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) is being done to fight malaria in some districts in the Northern Region.

The US government is supporting Ghana with 30 million dollars in malaria prevention that the Ghana Malaria Control Programme and other stakeholders in health were collectively executing. Eight districts in the Northern Region namely Savelugu/Nanton, Tolon/Kumbungu, Saboba, West Mamprusi, East Mamprusi, Karaga, Gushiegu and Chereponi are benefiting from this year's programme. Ms Cheryl Anderson said, "We are pleased about the way things are being done in Ghana. The work is very tedious and complicated both for the beneficiaries and health workers and I must confess Ghana is doing very well on the programme."

Ms Aba Baffoe-Wilmot, the Vector Control Manager of the National Malaria Control Programme, said Ghana was targeting to reduce malaria to about 80 per cent and expressed the hope that the target would be reached if IRS was properly done.

She said the only problem that health personnel were facing was the refusal of some individuals to accept spraying while others refuse to hand the Insecticide Treated Nets they had received.

Ms Baffoe-Wilmot said to ensure that people used the nets, personnel are helping to hang the nets instead of giving them out to pregnant and nursing mothers who may not know how to hang the nets properly. Mr. Napoleon Kwesi Graham, Chief of party of the IRS said the country had chalked success because of the cooperation of chiefs and community leaders and expressed the hope that malaria would be reduced to the barest minimum in its operational areas. He said malaria continued to be among the top five killers in Africa especially in children and pregnant women saying, "This is the time for all of us to help fight malaria to save our kids from premature deaths."