Daboase (W/R), June 18, GNA - Mr. Anthony Bassaw, Mpohor Wassa East District Chief Executive, has inaugurated the district's 29-member Malaria Advocacy Team at a special session of the district assembly on the malaria advocacy programme.

In a speech, he urged people in the district to change their attitude towards environmental cleanliness and sanitation to help eliminate or reduce to the barest minimum malaria.

Mr. Bassaw said many people are aware that malaria is caused by mosquitoes but are not making any effort to stop mosquitoes from breeding in stagnant waters behind their houses and bushy areas in their communities. He urged the team to sensitize the people to change their attitude towards the eradication of the disease which has development implications.

Mr. Emmanuel Fiagbey, Country Director of the Voices for Malaria Free Future Project of the Centre for Communication Programmes of the John Hopkins University in the United States, said Artesunate Amodiauine is still the best drug for the treatment of malaria. He said the drug was recommended by the United Nations and the World Health Organisation and there are no records that the drug has caused deaths anywhere in the country.

Mr. Fiagbey expressed the hope that medical practitioners would stick to drug regime for the treatment of malaria so that the malaria would not be resistant to it because the cost of treatment is rising. He said that despite the new drug policy, importers are still bringing in unapproved malaria drugs and this could offset the national malaria control programme.

Mr. Fiagbey said Fansidar, the malaria treatment drug, is to be used only by pregnant women. Mr. Christian Darko, the District Malaria Focal Person, said 15,533 malaria cases were recorded in the district last year with 4,513 cases of children under five years and 248 malaria in pregnancy cases.