Ashaiman-Ghana, April 27, CDA consult – The Ashaiman Municipality has experienced a decrease in malaria incidence, despite the fact that it is still the top cause of Outpatients Department (OPD) visits, according to Mrs. Patience Ami Mamattah, Director of Health Services for the municipality.
According to statistics, a total of 18,458 incidents were reported at various health facilities’ outpatient departments in 2022, compared to 24,237 in 2021.
She attributed the reduction in malaria cases to several interventions carried out by her group, saying that they collaborated with the Ashaiman Municipal Assembly’s (ASHMA) Environmental Health Unit to map out water bodies and spray them to kill mosquitoes and their larvae.
Mrs. Mamattah also mentioned that the municipality has expanded malaria preventive education.
In order to limit mosquito reproduction, she advised citizens to keep their surroundings clean and to avoid collecting water in containers around their homes and offices.
The Health Director also encouraged families to sleep under insecticide-treated bed nets, emphasising the importance of protecting children under the age of two from mosquito bites.
She recommended parents to bring their children, especially those under the age of two, to child welfare clinics for a free treated mosquito net, stressing that there are plenty of mosquito nets to go around.
She noted that in honour of World Malaria Day, health officials in the jurisdiction were initiating a campaign to educate homes and identifiable groups such as schools, as well as patients who frequent various health institutions.
According to the Ashaiman Health Director, such sensitization durbars were used not only for malaria education but also for other conditions such as mosquito net demonstrations, free malaria and tuberculosis screening, the COVID-19 vaccination, and family planning counselling, among other things.
The Ashaiman Health Directorate joins the global community in commemorating World Malaria Day 2023, with the theme “Time to Deliver Zero Malaria: Invest, Innovate, and Implement.”
Every year on April 25, World Malaria Day commemorates the victories and challenges in the fight against malaria, which affects all communities.
According to the National Malaria Elimination Programme, half of the world’s population is still at risk from this preventable, treatable disease that kills a child every minute.
