Women and Children in Butre in the Ahanta West and Amanful East in the Takoradi Metropolis of the Western Region have benefited from the distribution of Long Lasting Insecticides Mosquito Nets.

The exercise was carried out by the Ghana Health Service through the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

The UNICEF-Ghana procured 2.35 million LLINs through financial contribution by the Department for International Development (DFID) in September 2010, for distribution to about 4.7 million people in malaria control and other related activities in the area.

In Amanful East, which has a population of 7, 646 and about 1, 529 households, 4, 500 LLINs were distributed, and Madam Bariku Yussif, a food seller, and Madam Rakiya Sahabi, also resident of the area, praised UNICEF-Ghana and their partners for the gesture.

At Butre, Ms Salome Afigodonu, nurse in charge of a health post there, told GNA that 663 LLINs were distributed to the people in August 2011.

She said in 2011, the area recorded 488 malaria cases, whiles in 2012, 443 cases were recorded as a result of the distribution of the LLINs, and that the major diseases in the area were malaria, fever and skin diseases.

Malaria is hyper-endemic in Ghana and the leading cause of morbidity and mortality among children under five years, accounting for 22 per cent under-five deaths and 9 per cent of maternal deaths in 2007.

The Ministry of Health estimated that about 3.5 million cases of suspected malaria cases are reported every year in public health facilities, representing 40 per cent of outpatient attendance, out of which 900,000 are children.

The Ghana Malaria Control Programme has adopted the use of LLINs as one of the key strategies to control malaria under the strategic plan for malaria control in Ghana (2008-2015).