Ghana consistently reduces malaria cases

As Ghana joins the international community to commemorate World Malaria Day, it has been established that malaria prevalence and related morbidity has continued to decrease appreciably since 2013 in the country.

Statistics from the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) indicate that in 2013, nine million confirmed malaria cases were recorded but the numbers reduced to less than seven million  in 2014 and further decreased to six million in 2015.

It continued to decrease further to below six million in 2016.

In terms of morbidity, the programme established that in 2013, 2,985 deaths were recorded but the numbers reduced to 2,200 in 2014 and 2,137 in 2015.

Presenting the highlights on malaria response in Ghana at a ceremony to mark the day ahead of the global commemoration, the Manager of the NMCP, Dr Constance Bart-Plange, attributed the successful trend in the decline to the intensification of national preventive and management interventions, which focused on reducing the prevalence and mortality rate by 75 per cent by 2020.

She said the interventions included the distribution of insecticide treatment nets (ITN) nationwide and ensuring that beneficiaries used the nets, embarking on indoor residual spraying exercises, ensuring intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancies and raising more public awareness of the illness.

Dr Bart-Plange said the fight against malaria was a shared responsibility and called on all stakeholders to support the various initiatives.

She thanked all stakeholders, development partners and the media for their continued support, technically and financially, for the activities of the NMCP and said without that Ghana could not have recorded this tremendous success.

World Malaria Day

The day is celebrated globally on April 25 every year, with a wide range of activities geared towards raising awareness of the need to ensure that no one ever died of malaria by 2030 in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The day is being marked internationally on the theme: End malaria for good while the local theme is End malaria for good; invest in malaria which reflects the vision of the United Nations ( UN) to see a malaria-free world by 2030.

Malaria, although preventable, has been identified as one of the major causes of mortality in the world, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.

The celebration of World Malaria Day is always an opportunity to raise more awareness of the devastating consequences of the disease and the various interventions taken to prevent and treat the illness.

The occasion was also used to inaugurate a National Malaria Foundation to accelerate the vision of  a Ghana-free malaria by 2025, which was done by the First Lady, Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo.

In her keynote address, she underscored the need for Ghana to intensify efforts to achieve the ultimate aim of eliminating malaria in Ghana.

She was of the opinion that eliminating malaria would require more investment from the public and private sectors.

“When we collaborate efficiently, both at the local and international levels, unifying our efforts, it will be possible to defeat malaria,” she said.

She, therefore, appealed to stakeholders, such as traditional and community leaders; corporate institutions; the media and development partners, to continue supporting the national campaign to eliminate malaria in Ghana.

“We need to sustain the gains we have made and this calls for sustained investment of time and resources,” she added.

In his remarks, the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Anthony Nsiah-Asare, said Ghana, which used to be hyper endemic for malaria, meaning high transmission nationwide all year-long was no longer malaria hyper endemic.

“The overall malaria relevance had reduced drastically from a high level of over 50 per cent in 2002 to 20.4 per cent in 2016,” he said.

WHO

In a speech read on his behalf, the Regional Director of World Health Organisation to Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, said malaria was a regional and global priority because it continued to kill more than 400,000 people globally every year.

“The theme, End malaria for good, stresses the need to accelerate and sustain efforts to defeat malarial nationally and globally,” he said.

He submitted that the day was an occasion to renew political will to end malaria and continue to invest in malaria prevention by all UN member countries because they had committed to ending the malaria endemic by 2030. 

Dr  Moeti commended Africa for making tremendous strides in fighting malaria according to the world Malaria Survey Report.

As Ghana joins the international community to commemorate World Malaria Day, it has been established that malaria prevalence and related morbidity has continued to decrease appreciably since 2013 in the country.

Statistics from the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) indicate that in 2013, nine million confirmed malaria cases were recorded but the numbers reduced to less than seven million  in 2014 and further decreased to six million in 2015.

Read Full Story