Pharmacists marks World Malaria Day in Ghana

The Ghana Chamber of Pharmacy (GCP) on Thursday joined the global community to take part in a wide range of activities to mark World Malaria Day 2013.

A statement issued by the GCP and signed by Mr. Godfred Adjei, Chief Executive Officer and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra, said it is time for the malaria community to regroup, re-energize and look ahead to invest in the future to defeat malaria.

It said: “We would like to emphasize the value of establishing partnerships between health care teams and the community in the fight against malaria. Pharmacists are in an ideal position to partner with the communities they serve”.

It explained that, community pharmacists are easily accessible providers of reliable information and advice but not just suppliers of medicine; adding that, community pharmacies especially, in the rural areas contributes immensely in the prevention, control and treatment of malaria cases.

It said, “The government must partner with the community pharmacies to ensure prompt, safe, effective and appropriate anti-malaria treatment to the entire population. The government must help the community pharmacies to get access to the Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) to ensure effective treatment”.

The statement added that, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Trade and Industry, as well as other stakeholders should support the local pharmaceutical manufactures.

The statement said the local pharmaceutical manufactures needs support to produce good quality and affordable anti-malaria medications through the government’s Public Private Partnership programmes, as recommended by the anti-malaria drug policy for Ghana (2009), instead of relying on foreign partners which is not sustainable.

“We urge pregnant women to visit the antenatal clinic for their doses of Sulphadoxine-Pyrimethamine whilst sleeping under the insecticide treated nets to prevent malaria complications,” the statement said.

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