By Lydia Asamoah, GNA
Accra, July 28, GNA - IDEPTH Network, a global network of health and demographic surveillance systems, in collaboration with the Ghana Heath Service, is to roll out a new malaria project to strengthen quality of malaria care and surveillance in the communities.
The initiative, which runs from July 2017 to December 2019, would help accelerate the reduction of malaria burden among children below 10 years and pregnant women in rural communities through various health control packages.
The project aims to accelerate the reduction of malaria burden among children under 10 years and pregnant women in rural communities.
The packages would involve improved access to quality malaria care at the community, improved knowledge among malaria care providers, and an enhanced community demand for quality malaria data and care for decision making.
Launching the Project on Friday in Accra, Professor Osman Sankoh, the Executive Director of IDEPTH Network, said the project was being sponsored by the UK based Comic Relief and a pharmaceutical company, under an 800,000 pounds fund to be implemented in selected districts within the Upper East, Brong Ahafo and the Greater Accra Regions where malaria cases were rampant.
He said the project was core to the National Malaria Control Programme’s strategy as the communities would have access to treatment for uncomplicated malaria.
He expressed the hope that community members would embraced the project and own it to ensure sustainability.
Other Project Partners include research teams from Kintampo, Dodowa and Navrongo Health Research Centres who were represented at the launch.
Dr Kwaku Poku Asante, the Acting Director of Kintampo Health Research Centre, said very often children with fever were unable to get to a facility to be properly tested for malaria because of distance and unavailability of the Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) or medication.
He said this explained the importance of the project that targets community members to bridge those gaps and help reduce the malaria burden.
He it would help improved knowledge of malaria care providers including community health officers (MCPS) or nurses, licensed chemical sellers, and community-based workers at the community level to test and treat malaria.
Dr Asante noted that under the project, there would be training and reorientation on the MCPs on malaria symptoms, mRDT use, treatment, tracking patient outcome, referral of severe malaria cases, febrile illnesses, basic record keeping, quality of care, and continuous supply of RDTs.
He said professional groups and associations including religious groups, market women associations, GHABA, pensioners, traditional medicine practitioners, GPRTU, fishermen and fishmongers association, as well as school children, would be among partners under the project.
Malaria has been a major cause of poverty and low productivity accounting for about 32.5 per cent of all Out Patient Department attendance.
It is expected that the level of malaria diagnosis using RDT would increase from the current eight per cent to 50 per cent among the primary beneficiaries at the community level.
Dr Kesiah Malm, Acting Director of NMCP, and Dr Linda Vanotoo, the Greater Accra Regional Director of Health, lauded the project but advised that it should be linked with existing national programmes including the CHPS compound system, to ensure sustainability and community ownership.
They said there was also the need to strengthen existing systems so that it would leapfrog the malaria care and surveillance programme.
GNA
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