The country’s goal to eliminate malaria was revealed in its capital Accra at a conference on Tuesday, during the launch of the National Malaria Elimination Strategic Plan 2024 to 2028, with the conference theme ‘Zero Malaria Begins Now the Path to End Malaria Begins’ Ghana in Elimination.’
The plan entails educating all Ghanaians on the practices and skills necessary to eliminate malaria by 2028.
This, according to the Ghanaian newspaper, Ghanaian Times, “it will also ensure that 100 percent of confirmed malaria cases are treated appropriately, effectively and completely by 2028.”
Representing the country’s president, the Presidential Adviser on Health, Dr. Anthony Nsiah-Asare, noted that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was satisfied with the efforts being made to develop this national strategy.
The president tasked stakeholders from both the private and public sectors to assimilate the strategies outlined in the document.
He further called on the said stakeholders to work with the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service to fully realize the goal of malaria eradication.
The Minister of Health, Mr. Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, explained that the administration’s efforts to combat malaria in Ghana resulted in the establishment of a malaria control unit under the Ministry of Health.
“The National Malaria Elimination Program was established to reduce malaria morbidity and mortality by 75 percent by 2020, using 2012 as a baseline.” said the minister.
Mr Kwaku Agyeman-Manu went on to state that Malaria was the number 1 cause of hospital visits in the country in the Gold Coast throughout 2022 and also accounted for more than 20% of all illnesses diagnosed in the Outpatient Department (OPD). ) from 2018 to 2022.
“Also, available data from the 2022 Holistic Assessment report shows that the Upper East Region recorded the worst malaria incidence of 349.2 per 1,000 population, while the Greater Accra region recorded the best at 38.2 per 1,000 population.” said the minister.