Tema-Ghana, July 17, GNA – Avoid mosquito bites, by among other things, keeping your surroundings clean to limit mosquito breeding sites, sleeping under treated mosquito nets, applying insecticides, and using repellents as part of measures for fortification against contracting malaria.
Dr. Mrs. Dorothy Hanson, a Medical Officer at the International Maritime Hospital (IMaH) in Tema, has said.
She further advised the public to always test before taking any malaria medications, citing the possibility that malaria symptoms are similar to those of some other diseases.
Dr. Mrs. Hanson gave the advice at the weekly “Your Health! Our Collective Responsibility,” a Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Office initiative aimed at promoting health-related communication and providing a platform for the dissemination of health information in order to influence personal health choices through improved health literacy.
The Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Office launched the public health advocacy platform “Your Health! Our Collective Responsibility” to investigate the elements of four health communication approaches: informing, instructive, persuasive, and urging.
She urged the public to seek for laboratory test for malaria if they continue to experience symptoms after using a Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT).
She said while the RPD could aid in the diagnosis of malaria, it was not always successful due to other factors.
Dr. Mrs. Hanson said microscopy laboratory testing has remained the ‘gold standard’ for malaria testing due to its dependability and accuracy since it can locate and count the number of parasites in the patient for accurate therapy.
She said if the directions for the latter were not followed properly, some RDT could produce a negative test result even if the patient had the parasite.
Dr. Mrs. Hanson said each brand of RDT may have unique instructions, such as the number of drops of blood to use and the number of minutes to wait before viewing the result, that, if not followed, the result would be an incorrect diagnosis.
She called for sufficient training for pharmacy attendants in order for them to properly conduct the test and obtain accurate results.
