Accra, April 25, GNA - Dr. (Mrs) Constance Bart-Plange, National Malaria Control Programme Manager (NMCP) on Wednesday appealed to health workers not to treat malaria based on suspicion.

"Move above suspicion and thoroughly examine patients before administering malaria treatment drugs," she said in an address in Accra to commemorate this year's Africa Malaria Day which was under the theme: "Free Africa from Malaria Now, Roll Back Malaria".

Dr. Bart-Plange said research by health research unit showed that 25 per cent of all such cases were not malaria and this added to increase statistics on malaria.

Africa Malaria Day was set aside seven years ago by African heads of state to remind Africans of the devastating effect of the disease and reduce to half by 2010 all malaria related illnesses and death. Malaria is responsible for nearly 40 per cent of all out patient visits and close to one out of every four deaths registered in hospital in the country.

Giving an overview of malaria control in Ghana, Dr Barte-Plange said much effort had been done to reduce the disease burden but admitted that progress made had been minimal. She noted that household owning treated nets had increased from 17.6 per cent in 2004 to 51 per cent in 2006 while that of pregnant women who use the net had increased from 3.3 per cent in 2003 to 46.5 per cent in 2006.

In 2000, malaria constituted 44 per cent of out- patient cases but this slid to 38.6 in 2006, while malaria admissions has also dropped from 132,556 in 2004 to 122,928 in 2006.

Dr Barte-Plange said over 3.5 million treated mosquito nets had been distributed over the six-year period through non-governmental organizations and health facilities across the country to reach pregnant women and children, all in the bid to reduce the disease burden. All 138 districts health teams and 10 regional health teams had received additional money from Global Fund to intensify campaign against malaria, she noted.

Deputy Minister of Health, Mr Samuel Owusu-Agyei said in the face of startling statistics, the country could not ignore the need to vigorously fight the diseases from all angles. He added that since the adoption of roll back malaria in 1999, current interventions had also been designed to help improve case management and adopt multiple prevention methods as well as focus on research and partnership.

He stated that, to pursue these objectives, "we have changed the anti-malaria drug policy and have discontinued the use of chloroquine and rather adopted the Artemisinin based combination drug therapy." This, he said, was based on evidence that chloroquine was no longer effective, adding that the Artsunate-amodiaquine combination had been used to treat over two million persons without much problem as at the end of December 2006.

Over the same period, a total of 2,900 doses were procured with funds from the Global Fund for distribution to public health facilities while it has trained health professional as well. For those who cannot tolerate artesunate amodiaqunine, a team has been set up to select an alternate drug from among WHO approved atermisinine combination and their work is near completion. Tourism and Diasporan Relations Minister, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey called on Ghanaians to help fight the disease in their own small way while government and stakeholders also complemented their efforts. He noted that the theme for the day was apt, adding that malaria was not only preventable but curable.

Sheikh Ibrahim C. Quaye, Greater Accra Regional Minister, observed that the day was a unique opportunity not just to highlight the magnitude of the problem but bring all stakeholders together to apply the solutions that work.

The Regional Coordinating Council, he said, had approached donors and corporate bodies for assistance in the anti-malaria campaign and announced that the move had yielded positive results. He, however, noted that the problem of malaria needed a concerted effort of recruiting, training and deploying sufficient numbers of skilled health care providers to help fight it.

There were solidarity messages from stakeholders and partners including WHO, UNICEF, JICA and USAID who pledged their support to help stem the tide and half the disease's burden by 2010.