Ghana reduces malaria-related deaths by 97% 2014-2024 – Health Minister
Ghana recorded a reduction in malaria-related deaths by 97 per cent between 2014 and 2024, the Minister of Health, Mr Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, has said.
He said that in 2024, the country recorded a reduction in malaria-related death by 51 per cent, 36 per cent drop in under-five malaria case facility rate, and a decline in both malaria admission and outpatient cases.
Mr Akandoh said this in a speech read on his behalf by the Director General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Professor Samuel Kaba Akoriyea, in Accra yesterday as Ghana joined the rest of the world to commemorate this year’s World Malaria Day.
The commemoration was held on the theme, “Malaria Ends With Us: Reinvest, Reimagine, Reignite.”
According to Mr Akandoh, the reduction in malaria-related deaths as well as malaria admissions and outpatient cases meant Ghana was achieving positive results in her efforts to eliminate malaria by 2028 under the National Malaria Elimination Strategic Plan (2023-2028).
Despite the reduction in recorded death, admission, and outpatient cases, Mr Akandoh noted that it was important for the country to intensify her effort towards the elimination of malaria by 2028.
He, therefore, urged the country to take full ownership of her malaria elimination plan through domestic resources and partnerships, integrate the plan into all sectors of the economy, and fuel community leadership and behaviour change in order to eliminate the disease by 2028.
“The path to malaria-free Ghana must be integrated into how we plan our cities, manage our resources, educate our children, and finance our national priorities,” Mr Akandoh said.
In addition, he said that the government would continue to expand effective interventions such as the indoor residual spraying and insecticide treated net distribution to ensure that the country achieved the goal of the National Malaria Elimination Strategic Plan.
Prof. Akoriyea, in a speech delivered on his behalf by the Director, Public Health Division of the GHS, Dr Franklin Asiedu-Bekoe, said that Ghana reached a coverage rate of 53 per cent in relation to indoor residual spraying and over 1.9 million children through five cycles if seasonal malaria chemoprevention in the Upper East, North-East, Northern, Savannah, and Oti regions and five districts in the Bono East Region last year.
Again, he stated that 19 million insecticide-treated mosquito nets were distributed during the recent malaria mass campaign while the country recorded a reduction in malaria positivity rated from 20.9 per cent to 16 per cent in the 21 districts earmarked for malaria elimination.
However, Prof. Akoriyea said the utilisation of mosquito nets remained low while the recent indoor residual spraying campaign covered only 53 per cent of the targeted districts, hence, the need for the country to scale up its efforts.
For her part, Dr Sally-Ann Ohene, the Officer in charge of WHO, who represented the WHO Country Representative, urged Ghana to increase her domestic funding, rethink her approach towards the fight against malaria, and empower all stakeholders in the elimination of malaria.
The National Malaria Champion, Oheneyere Gifty Anti, commended all stakeholders for their effort in the fight against malaria and urged the citizenry to make sure the efforts of the stakeholder count.
The chairman for the occasion, Nii Ashitey Akomfra Gbetsoolo III, the Paramount Chief of Teshie, urged the citizenry to be ambassadors of the fight against malaria to ensure that Ghana became a malaria-free country
BY BENJAMIN ARCTON-TETTEY
