By Daniel Agbesi Latsu
Worawora (O/R), June 24, GNA – Dr David Sarpong Oppong, Oti Deputy Regional Director in charge of Clinical Care, Ghana Health Service (GHS), has called on stakeholders to intensify public education on Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (SMC) to help reduce malaria prevalence in Ghana by 2028.Â
He said sustained public awareness and community participation were crucial to protecting children under five years, who remained the most vulnerable to malaria because of their weak immune systems.
Dr Oppong made the call during the Oti Regional Health Directorate’s 2026 Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention Stakeholders’ Engagement held at Worawora in the Biakoye District of the Oti Region.
He urged traditional authorities, religious leaders, the media, community-based organisations, health workers, and other stakeholders to support the dissemination of accurate information on the SMC campaign to ensure its success.
“Malaria is preventable and treatable, but it continues to claim lives, particularly among children under five. We must all play our part by educating our communities and encouraging caregivers to ensure eligible children receive the medicines,” he said.
Dr Oppong advised residents to adopt good environmental sanitation practices by clearing choked drains, removing stagnant water, desilting gutters, and keeping their surroundings clean to eliminate mosquito breeding grounds.
He warned that increasing disease outbreaks placed enormous pressure on the country’s health system.
“When diseases overwhelm the health system, service delivery is affected. Prevention remains the most effective and less costly approach,” he said.
Dr Oppong encouraged parents and caregivers to ensure their children completed all SMC treatment cycles during the implementation period to maximise protection against malaria.
Presenting an overview of the 2026 SMC campaign, Mr Daniel Andah Boakye, Oti Regional Malaria Focal Person, said malaria remained one of the leading public health challenges in Ghana and was caused by Plasmodium parasites transmitted through the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes.
He said according to the World Health Organisation’s 2024 report, an estimated 282 million malaria cases were recorded globally, resulting in about 610,000 deaths, with approximately 95 per cent of the deaths occurring in the WHO African Region.
Mr Boakye explained that the World Health Organisation recommended Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention in 2012 for children aged three to 59 months living in areas with highly seasonal malaria transmission.
He said Ghana introduced the intervention in 2015 and currently implements it in the five northern regions as well as the Oti and Bono East regions.
He said the intervention involved administering preventive anti-malaria medicines to eligible children during the rainy season, when malaria transmission was highest, to significantly reduce illness, severe malaria,, and deaths.
Mr Boakye said a total of 69 districts nationwide were implementing the SMC programme and expressed optimism that with strong stakeholder collaboration, high community participation and effective public education, the intervention would contribute significantly to reducing the country’s malaria burden.
Stakeholders including traditional rulers, media practitioners, NCCE, social welfare Police, among others attend the engagement.
Stakeholders at the engagement reaffirmed their commitment to supporting the campaign through community sensitisation, advocacy and mobilisation to ensure that all eligible children benefited from the intervention.
GNA
Edited by Maxwell Awumah/Linda Asante Agyei