Koforidua Feb. 12 GNA - Winners of the MTN special malaria quiz competition had donated 1,200 Insecticide Treated Nets (ITNs) to seven hospitals in the country.

The competition dubbed 93What Do You Know about Malaria", involved the staff of MTN, who competed amongst themselves on issues concerning Malaria. A statement signed by Mrs Mawuena Trebarh, Corporate Services Executiv= e of MTN, on Saturday said, the presentation was to help in the fight against Malaria, and that the winners decided to donate the nets to hospitals of their choice. "Albert E. Adjekum, Alhassan Abdul-Fatawu and Andrew Nii Bonney-Quis= t, all staff of MTN emerged first, second and third respectively, in the contest organized among six contestants".

"They have individually selected health facilities from the Central, Northern and Eastern Regions as beneficiary institutions of the ITNs" The statement said while Adjekum donated his 500 ITNs to the Agona Swedru Hospital and the Ahmadiya Mission Hospital, Abdul-Fatawu donated his prize to the Tamale West and Yendi hospitals.

It said the third placed competitor, Bonney-Quist, donated his 300 ITN= s to the Oyoko, Jumapo and Akwadum health centres in the Eastern Region "The winners were also given 20 ITNs to be distributed among family and friends." The statement said the winners thanked MTN for the opportunity given them to also contribute towards the fight against the Malaria disease in th= e country since the vast majority of malaria deaths occur in the sub-Saharan Africa".

According to them the contest was an eye-opener, as it enabled them to study and for that matter, know more about the disease, the statement added= .. It said the donors advised the beneficiary health facilities to use th= e nets for the intended purpose.

Mr Robert Kuzoe, Executive Secretary of the MTN Foundation, congratulated the winners and said a United Nations report on malaria has estimated that it would cost Africa more than US$ 12 billion every year, in gross Domestic Product, to fight malaria, however if the disease is controlled, it would only cost a fraction of that sum". Mr Kuzoe identified public education and awareness as key in the fight against Malaria, and reiterated MTN's commitment to use every means possi= ble to educate the public about the dangers associated with the disease. The competition formed part of the numerous Malaria related projects the staff of the company executed in 2010, as part of the annual Y'ello C= are Challenge.