Health News of Wednesday, 6 December 2006

Source: GNA

Volunteers trained to help combat malaria at AOB District

Breman Nwomaso (C/R), Dec. 6, GNA - Humanitarian Foundation, a non-governmental organisation, based in Breman Nwomaso in the Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa in collaboration with the Ghana Health Service, has held a day's trainers of trainee workshop for 148 volunteers on how to fight malaria in the district.

The workshop, which was sponsored by the Global Fund, was under the theme: "let us come together and drive away malaria".

Participants were drawn from six Communities, including Ayipey Amoandah, Baako, Nwomaso, Benin and Kokooso. Some heads of department and Assembly Members in the area also attended.

The Executive Director of the Humanitarian Foundation, Mr Dawuda Adams, took the participants through topics including, causes of malaria, prevention measures, the uses of insecticides treated net and the use of Artesunate-Amodiaquine.

He urged the volunteers to go back to their communities and teach the people on the need to refrain from attitudes that would let them contract malaria.

Mr Adams said the Ghana Health Service recommended Artesunate-Amodiaquine as a replacement for chloroquine for the treatment of malaria.

He asked the participants to educate the people to go to hospital when they get malaria for early treatment to avoid complication. The District Chief of the Area, Mr Emmanuel Adjei Doomson, urged the participants to go to the people and educate them on the dangers of malaria and its harmful effects on the economy. He announced that the assembly and the Health Authorities in the district had decided to build a mosquito net re-treatment centre at Nwomaso to periodically treat faded mosquito nets in the area. Mr Doomson expressed regret about the apathetic attitude shown by the people of Nwomaso towards Assembly-sponsored projects in the town and appealed to them to eschew such behaviour because it could lead to retrogression of the development.

Mr Antwi Boasiako, District Co-ordinating Director, commended the organizers for having the welfare of the rural people at heart and urged the participants work harder on the field to enable the programme achieve its goals.

Dr Luiz Amoussou, District Director of Health Service, in a message to the participants, said malaria cases recorded in the district in 2005 was 11,000 and that this also tops the list of diseases treated. 06 Dec. 06