Kpone: The Kpone-Katamanso Municipal Health Directorate in the Greater Accra Region has outlined measures to completely eliminate malaria infections within the municipality by the year 2030. Dr Esther Priscilla BiamahDanquah, the Kpone-Katamanso Municipal Director of Health Services, disclosed this to the Ghana News Agency in an interview, stating that plans were far advanced to ensure malaria is completely eradicated within the municipality.
According to Ghana News Agency, Dr Danquah explained that the task was borne out of the National Malaria Elimination programme, which was aimed at ensuring that all the 21 health districts within the Greater Accra Region embarked on a comprehensive campaign against malaria. The Kpone-Katamanso Health Directorate had already distributed treated mosquito nets to various households, schools, and pregnant women within the municipality, adding that the directorate has also embarked on Larvae Source Management (LSM) within communities where open drains and water bodies serve as breeding grounds for mosquitoes.
Dr Danquah admonished pregnant women and lactating mothers to ensure that they were well protected from mosquito bites and called on residents to frequently visit the health facilities when they feel unwell instead of engaging in self-medication when they suspect they have malaria. She explained that more malaria testing had been conducted at the various health facilities, adding that about 98 per cent of malaria cases were tested before treatment commenced on the affected persons in the municipality, out of which 20 per cent tested positive.
‘We test, treat and track our clients who have malaria,’ she noted, indicating that Apolonia and Oyibi, located within the municipality, have the highest malaria prevalence rate. She cautioned that the current weather condition was conducive for the spread of malaria; hence, households should ensure they were well protected.