Saltpond, Dec 31, GNA - Dr Philip Abu, the Mfantseman District Director of Health Service, has urged metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies to include prevention of malaria in their poverty reduction strategies.

Dr Abu said there could be no better way of reducing poverty than protecting the citizens from contracting disease that could cause them expenditure in the form of hospital bills.

In an interview with the GNA, he suggested to the assemblies to use part of the District Assemblies' Common Fund meant for poverty alleviation to subsidize insecticide treated bed nets for sale to the people.

Dr Abu appealed to the assemblies to pay attention to sanitation as part of their poverty reduction strategies.

''It is unsanitary conditions that induce communicable diseases such as tuberculosis and cholera.

Dr Abu appealed to Ministry of Health to step up public education on non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension. ''A lot of people were being killed by non-communicable diseases because of lack of knowledge about them.''

Mr Francis Zuradam Saareson, the District Diseases Control Officer, said a measure put in place by the district directorate of health service to track down tuberculosis patients who had defaulted in receiving treatment has helped to reduce the defaulter rate considerably.

Mr Saareson said though the measure was expensive taking into account inadequate health personnel and means of transport to undertake the home visitation, it was worth undertaking.