‘Maternal, infant deaths from malaria decrease’
A Ghana Health Service (GHS) survey conducted in 2013 has established that maternal and infant mortality resulting from malaria has decreased drastically.
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While the GHS agreed that there was still more work to be done on malaria control, it was optimistic that if the interventions put in place continued to yield the desired results, Ghana was likely to get closer to meeting its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on health.
Maternal deaths resulting from malaria reduced from 80 out of every 1,000 pregnant women in 2000 to 13 out of every 1,000 pregnant women in 2013.
Also, children who died from malaria reduced from 180 out of every 1,000 children in 2000 to six out of every 1,000 children in 2013.
This was announced at a press conference in Accra recently as part of preparations towards the commemoration of this year’s World Malaria Day which falls on April 25, 2014.
The press conference was on the theme: “Malaria Control: Achieving the Millennium Development Goals”.
Multi-pronged strategy
The Deputy Director General of the GHS, Dr Gloria Quansah-Asare, speaking at the press conference, explained that the reduction in maternal and infant mortality resulting from malaria stemmed from the adoption of a multi-pronged strategy.
Other stategies included active public education on public health issues leading to intensive awareness creation by all stakeholders in public health issues, particularly highlighting the use of insecticide-treated mosquito nets, compliance with and adherence to the treatment of malaria, as well as environmental management.
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The Programme Officer of the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP), Mr James Frimpong, said the global community recognised the devastating effects of malaria and had, therefore, changed the African Malaria Day to World Malaria Day.
He said the existence of a comprehensive and elaborate national strategic plan for malaria control, policies and guidelines on strategic interventions and institutional arrangements for the strategic implementation of the malaria control programmes had contributed to the success of malaria control.
Other interventions, he said, included the improvement in financial and geographical supply and access to heavily subsidised quality anti-malaria medicines in both the private and the public health sectors.
According to him, managing severe malaria at the hospital level with Artesunate injection, which is a better and more effective anti-malarial drug, had contributed a lot to malaria control.
Some challenges
Mr Frimpong mentioned some challenges encountered by the NMCP as negative attitude by some people towards the changing trends used in malaria testing and cited parasite-building resistance to Artminsinins, mosquito-building resistance to insecticides, poor environmental management, the threat of illegal mining pits to malaria vector control intervention and the existence of sub-standard and counterfeit anti-malaria drugs on the market.
Way forward on malaria in Ghana
Mr Frimpong said Ghana should be considering a shift from malaria control to malaria prevention.
According to him, an effective vaccine against malaria had long been envisaged as a potential valuable addition to the available efforts at controlling malaria locally.
He said Ghana was at a critical tipping point in the fight against malaria, noting that defeating it required the engagement of sectors outside of Health, including Finance, Education, Defence, the environment, mining, industry and tourism.