Free insecticide nets for pupils
The National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) has distributed free insecticide treated nets to basic school pupils in public and private schools in nine regions of Ghana.
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Distribution of the nets was carried out during the launch of the 2017 Primary Schools Free ITNs Campaign.
The programme was undertaken in collaboration with the School Health Education Programme (SHEP) and supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the US President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) and the Ghana Vector Works Projects.
The Manager of the NMCP, Dr Constance Bart-Plange advised the pupils to sleep under the treated nets to protect themselves from malaria since the nets contained chemicals that ward off mosquitoes. She also asked them not to wash the nets with detergents.
Dr Bart-Plange urged all the children to be ambassadors of the malaria campaign by encouraging their friends and parents to use the nets.
The Deputy Health Minister, Ms Tina Mensah, on behalf of the Minister of Health, Mr Kwaku Agyemang-Manu, commended the efforts of all supporters in helping to control and eradicate malaria.
She said it was important to wash the nets when dirty and cautioned them not to wash them in rivers and streams since the nets contain chemicals which could contaminate the water.
Ms Mensah, who launched the 2017 Primary Schools Free ITNs Distribution Campaign, cautioned the public against using the net to fence their gardens and to dry fish, stressing that anyone caught doing that would be punished.
