Health care service providers in the Upper East Region have attended a day's capacity building training workshop on the use of Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs) for Malaria.

The training programme was organized jointly by the Institute of Social Research and Development (ISRAD), a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), and the Ghana Health Service (GHS) with sponsorship package from the Department for International Development (DFID).

It was aimed at empowering the service providers who were drawn from the Municipal and District Health Directorates in the region with the requisite skills to diagnose malaria before administering treatment to patients.

Speaking at the ceremony, the Regional Coordinator of ISRAD, Mr Abdul-Razak Issah , explained that the refresher programme was aimed at empowering the health personnel to diagnose clients with suspected malaria cases before offering them treatment so that they could administer appropriate and the best treatment to patients.

The programme, he noted, was to further empower the participants to become trainers who were expected to go back to their respective jurisdictions to train other health service providers.

The Acting Municipal Health Director, Ms Agnes Zizinya , lauded the efforts of ISRAD and the DFID for complimenting the GHS in health care delivery in Ghana .

“We are very grateful to the DFID for sponsoring the programme and also providing the RDT Kits to the Municipal and District Health Directorates “.

The Acting Municipal Health Director urged the participants to impart the knowledge acquired at the programme to other health service providers, and to adhere strictly to the protocols and policy in diagnosing malaria before treatment, to help curb the incidence of malaria.

The Municipal Malaria Focal Person, Mr Collins Addo, said with the various malaria interventions, including the supply of treated mosquito nets, the indoor residual spraying, coupled with the additional awareness creation by the NGO and the supply of the RDTs and the use of the RDTs, the incidence of malaria in the region had reduced drastically.

There was a demonstration on the use of RDTs to the participants who expressed their gratitude to the organizers and the funding agency, and pledged to put into use the knowledge they had acquired.

Prior to the programme, (ISRAD organized a similar training programme to community members on the need for them to ensure that they were diagnosed before accepting the treatment for malaria.