Dr Constance Marfo, National Malaria Programmed Manager, said on Tuesday that malaria infections and treatment placed a lot of constraints on the tight national budget of the health care system so all should try to control, prevent or treat the disease well.

Dr Marfo noted at a forum of health experts in Accra,"Malaria is more deadly than HIV/AIDS because it kills faster, but people have downplayed it because of ignorance,"

The forum, organized by Phrama Inform Consult and Human Diagnostic Ghana Limited health information management consultancy firms, brought together about 60 experts to deliberate on malaria policies, treatment, diagnosis, complications, general management and future advancements. It was also used to re-launch the Health Forum Reporter, a free quarterly health journal, to serve as a bridge-building medium among health care personnel.

Dr Marfo said available statistics indicated that over 40 percent of Out Patient Department (OPD) visits by patients was due to malaria, while 10 percent of such cases ended up in admissions. At the same time, 13.2 percent of all mortality cases and 22 percent of all mortalities in children less than five years were due to malaria. This, she said, was an indication that the disease was dangerous, "because it can kill within 24 hours, if not treated fast and well." Dr Marfo, therefore, urged all to adopt preventive measures, including desalting of gutters, getting rid of dirty water and keeping a clean environment.

Dr Kofi Ahmed, Chief Medical officer of the Ministry of Health said due to the nature of malaria, the government since colonial days to control the disease has adopted various measures and policies. Those policies included the introduction of various malaria drugs, mosquito nets and the roll back malaria initiative which Ghana committed itself to in 1999.

Dr Bamenla Goka, of the Department of Child Health, Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital expressed regret that only 11.6 percent of pregnant women take the appropriate dose of malaria drugs correctly. She said since children and pregnant women were more vulnerable to the disease, pregnant women should teat themselves well when infected by the disease because failure to do so could lead to stillbirths and miscarriages.