By Laudia Sawer
Tema, Nov. 29, GNA – The Tema Metro Health Directorate has held a town hall meeting to discuss measures to eliminate malaria in the metropolis by the year 2028.
The engagement was participated in by stakeholders including market traders, persons with disabilities, media, religious bodies, and health professionals.
Dr Sally D. Quartey, the Tema Metropolitan Director of Health, said Tema was among 21 districts in the Greater Accra Region marked for eliminating malaria.
Dr Quartey noted that attention had shifted from malaria control to malaria elimination, as over the years, interventions from the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and the National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP) (formerly the National Malaria Control Programme) had led to the reduction of malaria in the 21 districts.
She said some of the interventions included testing every suspected malaria case for diagnoses before treatment, use of treated mosquito nets, spraying (limited larvaeciding), and many others, adding that currently, malaria, which used to top outpatient departments (OPD) diseases, had now dropped from the top position.
Mr Daniel Andoh, the Health Information Officer for the Tema Metropolitan Health Directorate, giving an overview of malaria elimination in Ghana, said the number of inpatient malaria deaths in Ghana had constantly dropped from 2,137 in 2015 to 146 in 2023 due to the interventions.
Mr Andoh explained that while malaria control focused on burden reduction, prevention of vector-man contacts and the destruction of larvae and adult mosquitoes, malaria elimination concentrated on interruption of transmission, zero locally acquired cases for at least three consecutive years, and the prevention of re-establishing transmission.
He added that the goal of the elimination strategic plan (2024-2028) was to reduce malaria mortality by 90% by 2028 using 2022 as a baseline, reduce malaria case incidence by 50% by 2028, and achieve malaria elimination in the 21 districts by 2028.
He further said its objectives were to ensure 100 per cent of the population had adequate knowledge, attitudes, practices, and requisite skills for malaria elimination by 2028, ensure 100 per cent of the population use at least one malaria preventive measure, and to ensure that 100 percent of suspected malaria cases are tested by 2028.
Mrs Elizabeth Appiah Bonnah, the Malaria Focal Person at the directorate, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that the townhall was to educate and get the support of the community in achieving the target elimination.
Mrs Bonnah noted that when stakeholders knew their roles, they would help for the elimination to be achieved, adding that the directorate would intensify education on the interventions to ensure that the public adopted at least one of them to break the transmission of the parasite.
She appealed to the public to clear their surroundings of mosquito breeding grounds such as empty cans, adding that water storage containers must also be covered to prevent providing a haven for mosquito breeding.
She also charged them to own the spraying of stagnant water in their area to ensure that people tasked by the GHS to conduct such exercises do it effectively and efficiently to benefit the community.
GNA