Ghana-Press-Review April 29, 2021 to 10:11 278 APA – Accra (Ghana) The report of the five-year national strategic plan to help scale up malaria control and prevention in Ghana and the launch of $25-million Presidential Film Pitch Series by President Akufo-Addo are some of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Thursday.
The Graphic reports that the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) has laid out a five-year national strategic plan to help scale up malaria control and prevention in the country.
Strategies for the plan, which begins this year, comprise larvae source management, distribution of insecticide treated nets (ITN), mass campaign, as well as case management in all districts in the country.
The National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) has laid out a five-year national strategic plan to help scale up malaria control and prevention in the country.
Strategies for the plan, which begins this year, comprise larvae source management, distribution of insecticide treated nets (ITN), mass campaign, as well as case management in all districts in the country.
That is to help reduce malaria mortality by 90 per cent, reduce malaria case incidence by 50 per cent, and achieve malaria per-elimination in at least six districts in the country by 2025.
This was disclosed by the Programme Manager of the NMCP, Dr Keziah Malm, in Accra yesterday at a press briefing on the 2021 World Malaria Day.
By Lilian Okoro
Lagos, April 26, 2021 Some medical experts have warned Nigerians against taking malaria treatment without proper diagnosis and confirmation as it could lead to complicated medical conditions.
The experts, who spoke with newsmen in Lagos on Monday, decried the rate at which people indulged in self-medication by using anti-malaria drugs without diagnostic confirmation of the presence of malaria parasite in the body .
Mr Jude Ezenwa, Laboratory Scientist, urged Nigerians to always comply with the National Policy on Malaria which advised medical testing before receiving treatment.
Ezenwa, who works with Tex Laboratory Services, Okota Lagos, said that the policy, which had been in existence for years lacked adequate implementation, compliance and supervision.
Ghana has made gains in the fight against malaria in the last decade, according to figures from the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP).
The Programme Manager of the NMCP, Dr Keziah Malm, said malaria-related deaths across all ages in the country were reduced by 89 per cent from 2,799 in 2012 to 308 at the end of 2020.
Also, malaria-related admissions for all ages reduced by 27.8 per cent from 428,000 in 2012 to 308,887 in 2020, while the case fatality rate among children under five years decreased from 0.6 per cent in 2012 to 0.12 per cent in 2020.
Dr Malm made these known at a webinar symposium as part of activities marking this year’s World Malaria Day last Sunday.
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