Beneficiaries use free mosquito nets to fence gardens
Some beneficiaries of mosquito nets distributed free of charge by the Ministry of Health (MoH) prefer to use them as fences for their backyard gardens and as table covers instead of sleeping under them to prevent mosquito bites.
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Others also give them to their children for use as goalpost nets, thereby defeating efforts of the government and its development partners to reduce malaria to the barest minimum.
These came to light at the celebration of this year’s World Malaria Day in the Tano North District in the Brong Ahafo Region at Yamfo last Monday.
The theme for the celebration of the day was: “End malaria for Good.”
The event was jointly organised by a non-governmental organisation, Sustainable Development Focus (SUDEF), and the Tano North District Assembly.
Distribution of nets
Speaking at the event, the School Health Coordinator of the Ghana Education Service in the Tano North District, Ms Vida Agyei-Febiri, said it was unfortunate that beneficiaries of the free mosquito nets had misconceptions about the use of the nets.
Last year alone, as many as 51,000 mosquito nets were distributed freely in the district to expectant mothers and other targeted groups in the society.
According to her, some people said they felt uncomfortable using the nets because their body itched. She explained that such misconceptions were hampering efforts to convince people to sleep under mosquito nets.
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She appealed to parents to adhere strictly to the directions about the use of the mosquito nets in order to feel comfortable using them.
Case reduction
In his address, the Tano North District Co-ordinating Director, Mr Kwasi Miinta, said Ghana had achieved 45 per cent reduction in malaria infection as against the global reduction of 37 per cent.
He said even though the success story was commendable, more effective measures needed to be adopted to ensure the total eradication of the disease.
Mr Minta encouraged communities to institute measures to ensure environmental cleanliness as a way to reduce the breeding of mosquitoes.
For his part, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SUDEF, Mr John Baidoo, said in 2014 alone, 214 million people were affected by the malaria disease worldwide out of which 138,000 died.
According to him, most of the deceased were children aged between one and five, adding that there was, therefore, the need for parents to allow their children to sleep under mosquito nets to stop such preventable deaths.
Mr Baidoo called for public-private collaboration in the education of the people on the use of mosquito nets as well as ensuring a clean environment to further reduce the incidence of malaria.
Low patronage
Despite the importance attached to the celebration of the day, the ceremony at Yamfo received low patronage.
Only few adults and some third year junior high school students, who were preparing for their examination, were compelled to take part in the programme.
Some of the people, who the Daily Graphic spoke to, said they were not even aware of the celebration of the day and called for more publicity next year to enable many people to be part of the celebration.