Gyadam (E/R), July 2, GNA - A medical doctor has described malaria as an ailment of great public health concern and a challenge to human and socio-economic development in the country.

Dr Albert Antobre-Boateng, Birim Central Municipal Director of Health Services, indicated that the disease was a hyper-endemic with transmission affecting people of all ages throughout the country. The Health Services Director was speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) shortly after a durbar, as part of efforts to help improve efficiency in service delivery, quality of care and coverage of children under five years at Gyadam in the Akim Oda Sub-Municipality. "Malaria is the major cause of death among children under five years and a significant cause of adult morbidity," Dr Antobre-Boateng remarked, adding that it was also the leading cause of loss in productivity hours due to illness.

He said the primary effect of Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) towards curtailing malaria transmission was to reduce the life-span of vector mosquitoes, so that they could no longer transmit malaria parasites from one person to another and to kill anopheles mosquitoes that posed a risk indoors.

According to him malaria was the leading cause for outpatients attendance and continued to be the leading cause of mortality, especially in children under five years, and that the Ministry of Health had adopted the Roll Back Malaria initiative as the strategy for malaria control in the country.

Dr Antobre-Boateng pointed out that there was the general consensus that most of the interventions needed to make an impact existed and that what was needed was to make those interventions universally available. He acknowledged that there was also the challenge of improving health communication strategies, to address the ever-increasing trend of non-communicable diseases.

Mr Yaw Asante-Anyimadu, Assistant Chief Technical Officer (Nutrition) at the Akim Oda Municipal Health Directorate, who was present at the forum, stated that mal-nutrition was a major risk factor for diseases and deaths in the country.

He said the country was unlikely to make much progress in reducing under-five-year mortality rate, unless mal-nutrition in children was addressed.

Mr Asante-Anyimadu noted that mal-nutrition was also known to be prevalent among women and girls, and had been identified as a major contributory factor to high maternal morbidity and mortality. Mr Boampong Okoffo-Buadi, Birim Central Municipal Coordinating Director, asserted that it was proper to ensure that pregnant women and children slept in insecticide-treated nets (ITNs), to reduce transmission through vector control and interruption of mosquitoe-human contact. Mr Okoffo-Buadi cautioned the people, mostly farmers, not to engage children to work on their farms because the practice promotes child labour, but added that children could assist on their parents' farms. Nana Boakye-Yiadom, Gyasihene of Gyadam who chaired the function, was emphatic that the country had made progress in its quest for an effective malaria medication as part of efforts to control the disease and improve the lot of the population.

He advised that every effort must be made to adhere to the various policies on diagnosis and treatment of the disease to sustain the gains made. The Municipal Health Directorate later offered a number of health service information packages including birth registration, immunization, family planning services, growth monitoring, insecticide-treated nets sale and re-treatment for children who did not take part in the last polio exercise. 02 July 10