Koforidua, (Eastern Region) 3 Oct.,

This year's malaria awareness week for the Eastern Region was yesterday launched at New Zongo, a suburb of Koforidua with a call on the people to do away with self-medication and seek prompt diagnosis. The new Juaben Municipal Chief Executive, Mr. Emmanuel Adu- Boateng who made the call, expressed regret that after publicising the week, very little has been heard of its activities. He announced that the Assembly's environmental unit will soon embark on a spraying exercise to control the breeding of mosquitoes in the municipality. Mr. Adu-Boateng called for an inter-sectoral approach to the control of malaria, saying that in the construction of dams for irrigation for instance, provision should be made to prevent breeding of mosquitoes. He said although the Municipality has been trying to grapple with the problem, records of malaria cases in 1994 stood at 31,706 increasing to 32,257 in 1995. Though there was a drop to 27,972 in 1996, Mr. Adu-Boateng said not much has been achieved. Dr. Aaron Offei, Eastern Regional Director of Medical Services, said malaria contributes to between 10 to 15 per cent of deaths in children under five years of age and some pregnant women and called for a concerted effort to prevent and control the disease. Dr. Offei said a lot of people are ignorant about the disease so the education campaign must be intensified. He called for preventive methods to check the breeding of mosquitoes and advised people to use bednets. Dr. Gyamfi K. Yeboah, New Juaben director of health appealed to the people to take the malaria awareness week seriously and keep their surroundings clean.