<<Print>>

The Greater Accra Regional Directorate of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) is to register households within the Region to pave way for the distribution of the long lasting insecticide treated nets (LLINs) aimed at eradicating malaria in the Region.

The registration exercise, which is scheduled for November 6 to 12, would be followed with the main distribution from November 22 to 28.

The use of the long lasting insecticide treated nets have been found to be cost effective approach towards reducing new cases and deaths due to malaria, health experts have indicated.

The distribution of the insecticides in the Greater Accra Region would therefore, mark the end of a nationwide Point Mass Distribution Campaign (PMD) that started by the GHS in February 2018, through which the GHS and its partners facilitate and implement a programme to distribute LLIN to the people of Ghana.

At a media briefing in Accra on Friday, Dr Charity Sarpong, the Greater Accra Regional Director of Health Services, said the best way to protect individuals and families from malaria was to encourage them to sleep under mosquito nets.

She said because mosquitoes that spread malaria bite rested indoors and had peak biting times between dawn and dusk, sleeping under the treated net was an effective way of preventing them.

Therefore, since 2003, the GHS had been promoting and distributing LLIN to many Ghanaians at various points through the hospitals, schools, antenatal and postnatal points, among others, to ensure that more people got to sleep under the nets, and were protected to help to reduce the malaria burden, Dr Sarpong said.

She said over the years, the GHS had embarked on several strategies that would help to address the high morbidities and mortalities caused by malaria and especially among the vulnerable groups in the society.