The AngloGold Ashanti (Ghana) AGAMAL Malaria Control will commence their annual indoor residual spraying from the 8th of April to the 21st of June. The theme for this year is “Small Action, Big Impact for Malaria Elimination.”
As a result they have on the 21st of March, 2024 held a regional stakeholders meeting in the Upper West Region to deliberate on the interventions put in place towards the fight against malaria.
The meeting was organized by AGAMAL and brought together various stakeholders from the Ghana Health Services and Ghana Police Service among others.
Speaking at the meeting, the Upper West Regional Director for the Ghana Health Service, Damien Punguyieri, mentioned that Ghana and its related health partners have implemented interventions to help in the fight against malaria.
He said, “The country through its structures, Ministry of Health, Ghana Health Services and partners has been doing a lot trying to contain the disease over the years implementing several interventions to be able to limit the effects of malaria”.
“Other intervention included prevention treatment for pregnant women that is when they go to the health facility we give them malaria drugs. And the Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention usually during the raining season we give our children below the age of 5years monthly dosage of anti-malaria,” he added.
According to him, the GHS’s focus is to eliminate malaria in 21 districts in Ghana and hope to have zero malaria by 2028.
He added that “those within the low zones are 21 districts; we are looking at how to eliminate malaria by 2028.”
The Zonal Operations Manager for AGAMAL, Abraham Sacker, explained the nature of the insecticides to be used for the spraying and the challenges they faced during the spraying process.
He explained that the insecticides to be used for this year are Vectron T500, Fludora Fusion WP and 2Gard. The exercise will be done by 741 spray operators and 44 middle-level officers who have undergone training and were examined by the police and Ghana Health Services.
“This year we are engaging approximately 1164 personnel’s for different portfolios, so this is how we also contribute to bring down the unemployment in Ghana. Out of this number, 741 are spray operators and 44 middle level officers. This year we are using three different insecticides and different districts will have their own insecticides.”
In describing the nature of the insecticides, Abraham said this year’s insecticides are odourless, and stainless; they have an efficacy level of up to 9 months, pre-qualify by the World Health Organization and reduced the malaria vector among others.
The Regional Malaria Focal Person, Faabie Pie Alfred also described the state of malaria in the Upper West Region stating that they have been a decline in the general malaria cases from 2021 to 2023 but with a slight increase in the case of pregnant women.
He asserted that indoor residual spraying is very helpful when it comes to the fight against malaria leading to the protection of people from malaria.
He added that the fight against malaria is “a collective responsibility” and therefore called on the public to join in eliminating the disease.