INSECTICIDE MOSQUITO NETS FOR 10 COMMUNITIES (MIRROR, DEC 4, 2010, PAGE 34)

From Nana Konadu Agyeman, Koforidua

RESIDENTS of 10 out of the 21 municipalities and districts in the Eastern Region are to benefit from 830,000 insecticide-treated mosquito nets.
The project, to be implemented on a pilot basis, will be extended to the remaining 11 districts based on the successful implementation of the project in the beneficiary areas.
The initiative, targeted at pregnant women and children under five, as well as other persons registered under the programme, forms part of the launch of the long-lasting insecticide nets hang-up campaign being implemented by the National Malaria Control Programme and financed by the USAID.
As part of measures to ensure the success of the programme, a task force and personnel of the Ghana Health Service would be moving from house to house to hang the nets in the homes of the beneficiaries and also conduct regular visits to ensure their effective use by the beneficiaries.
This became known during the launching of the universal access to Long-Lasting Hang-up campaign at Kwamang in the Kwahu West Municipality in the Eastern Region.
Launching the project, the Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, said available statistics showed that in 2008, 746,444 cases of malaria were recorded in the region but this increased to 925,266 in 2009.
According to him, hospital admissions which were the result of malaria increased from 39,596 in 2008 to 43,762 in 2009, while total deaths due to the disease decreased slightly from 279 in 2008 to 273 in 2009.
“It is regrettable that these deaths could have been prevented by sleeping under a treated mosquito net, but since this precaution was not adhered to, many people had to write their premature obituaries”, Mr Ofosu Ampofo stated.
He attributed the increase in malaria cases to filthy environments in towns and communities in the region, and added “it is, therefore, not surprising that the substantial increase in the death rate in Ghana could be traced to the deterioration and degeneration in our environment”.
He, therefore, appealed to the beneficiaries to sleep under the treated mosquito nets to reduce malaria cases and maternal and infant mortality in the region.