Via Ghana Business News: No child under five died of malaria in a Ghanaian district first half of 2012. Excerpt:
No child under five years died of malaria in the Aowin Suaman District in the first half of 2012, Mr Emmanuel Tamakloe, District Director of Health Service, has said.
He said this success, which is a record in the past six months, was an improvement over the same period of last year’s where three deaths were recorded.
Mr Tamakloe said this at a briefing on Monday when a group of journalists paid a working visit organized by United Nation Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to the Enchie District Hospital.
He attributed the achievement to the introduction of the Long Lasting Insecticide Treated nets (LLINs) hang-up campaign through the efforts of the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP), Ghana Health Service and UNICEF with funding from DfID in 2011.
“The difference between the Insecticide Treated Nets (ITN) and LLIN is that ITN easily lose its efficacy when washed but the LLIN can last for five years,” he said.
Mr Tamakloe said the campaign was preceded by educational campaigns in the district followed by training of health personnel and community volunteers and finally the hanging of 83,000 LLINs in households.
He said half year reports of death among people above the age five bracket had reduced from 69, 16 and 11 in 2010, 2011 and 2012 respectively (half year).
Mr Tamakloe said the total number of malaria cases reported had increased from about 32,000 in 2010 to 49,000 in 2012 due to intensive sensitization to report cases early at the various health facilities.
