Agroyesum (Ash), Dec 4, GNA - Mr George Bruce Smith, Amansie West District Pharmacist at Saint Martin's Catholic Hospital at Agroyesum, has recommended the artesunate-amodiaquine combination as a first-line drug for treatment of uncomplicated malaria.

He, however, warned that there was the need for patients to follow instructions on usage as prescribed by the doctor in order to have the full impact of the drug.

Speaking on the New Drug Policy at a workshop on control and prevention of malaria for 30 community-based health volunteers in the district, Mr Smith said artesunate-amodiaquine has come to replace chloroquine that had been found to be ineffective to the treatment of malaria.

Miss Mary Prah, a nurse at the hospital, urged the participants to educate parents with children under five years to sleep in insecticide treated bed nets as a way to prevent malaria.