Mankranso, (Ash), Feb 16, GNA - The Ahafo South District recorded 41 deaths from malaria last year, Mrs Mary Amponsah, the Acting District Director of Health Services, has said.

She said of the 10 major diseases in the district, malaria topped and this indicated that the disease was on the increase.

Mrs Amponsah was speaking at the annual performance review meeting of the district health administration at Mankranso last Friday. She said the district recorded 16,922 cases of malaria last year as against 12,416 cases recorded in 2004. It recorded 21 tuberculosis cases with two deaths last year.

Sixteen cases of cholera with two deaths were recorded last year and named Domeabra and Wioso as areas having recorded the deaths. Mrs Amponsah said the district recorded 100 per cent coverage of the National Immunization Programme, recorded 622 teenage pregnancies and attributed it to illiteracy and poverty.

Nana Akuoko Siaw of the Ashanti Regional Health Administration appealed to radio stations to allocate part of their airtime to educate the public on the National Health Insurance Scheme, HIV/AIDS and teenage pregnancies instead of spending their airtime discussing football.