By Samira Larbie/Muniratu Issah/Ebenezer Annan
Accra, April 26, GNA – The Ministry of Health has urged the private sector to get involved in malaria elimination and invest in evidence-based interventions and innovative approaches to build on Ghana’s success story in the fight against the disease.
The Health Minister, Mr Kwabena Minta Akandoh, made the call in a speech read on his behalf by Professor Samuel Kaba Akoriyea, the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), at the 2025 World Malaria Day commemoration in Accra on Friday.
He said the private sector had a vital role to play in the elimination of malaria and urged companies to make its control a key part of their corporate social responsibility through workplace programmes, research sponsorship and co-financing of community interventions.
“When we reinvest in malaria elimination, we are not just preventing the disease but building human capital, unlocking productivity, advancing equity and laying the groundwork for economic transformation,” he quoted the minister as saying.
Prof. Akoriyea stressed the need to extend the elimination of malaria beyond the health sector and be woven into the national development agenda through city planning, environmental management and children’s education.
He underscored the need to reignite public passion by empowering communities with knowledge and tools, and by engaging traditional and religious leaders, youth groups and civil society organisations to drive behaviour change and demand accountability.
Prof. Akoriyea highlighted Ghana’s National Malaria Elimination Strategic Plan (2023–2028), which was already yielding results.
“Malaria-related deaths have fallen by 51% compared to 2022, and the under-five malaria case fatality rate has dropped by 36%.”
He noted that admissions and outpatient visits were also declining as the rollout of the malaria vaccine continued to expand, with over 70% of children now receiving the first dose.
He assured of the government’s preparedness to scale up interventions, including indoor residual spraying, distribution of insecticide-treated nets, seasonal malaria chemoprevention, preventive treatment in pregnancy and effective case management in 21 endemic districts.
Plans are also under way to further expand malaria vaccination coverage.
“But we cannot succeed alone. We need your partnership, your voice, and above all, your leadership,” he added, appealing, once more, for broad support.
Dr Sally Ann Ohene of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Country Office, commended Ghana for its strides in the malaria fight, calling the efforts a collective commitment that had saved lives, protected futures and moved the country closer to a malaria-free vision.
She cautioned, however, that malaria remained a leading cause of outpatient attendance and under-five mortality in Ghana.
Nearly 600,000 lives – mostly young children – were still lost to malaria each year across Africa, Dr Ohene said.
“We are now at a crossroads; climate change, drug and insecticide resistance, the emergence of invasive vectors, urbanisation and funding gaps threaten to reverse the progress we have fought so hard to achieve,” she noted.
She emphasised that ending malaria required collective effort across all sectors and ministries.
Siting the Yaoundé Declaration (signed by 11 African health ministers) as an example of unified, actionable commitment, Dr Ohene urged local and international partners to increase domestic investments to bolster universal health coverage.
The National Malaria Champion, Oheneyere Gifty Anti, lauded the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service for safeguarding Ghanaians’ health.
She stressed on the importance of the involvement of every one in that malaria elimination, saying it was vital to national development and to preventing unnecessary deaths from a preventable disease.
The World Malaria Day commemoration also included awards for winners of the maiden National Malaria Quiz competition, held across 21 districts.
The first prize winners were Holy Child RC Basic (Tema West Municipality), Nii Kojo Ababio Basic (Accra Metro) and Danoman “2” Basic (Ablekuma West).
The students received trophies, citations, tablets, laptops, stationery, branded school bags and a projector.
The World Malaria Day is observed annually to highlight the need for continued investment and sustained political commitment to malaria prevention and control.
The 2025 theme: “Malaria Ends With Us: Reinvest, Reimagine, Reignite,” is a grassroots campaign aimed at re-energising efforts from global policy to community action to accelerate progress towards elimination.
Instituted by the WHO Member States in 2007, the Day also celebrates successes in the fight against malaria and encourages individual responsibility towards a malaria-free world.
GNA
ABD