By Doreen Ampofo
The National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) has rolled out a five-year strategic plan to help scale up malaria control and prevention in the country by 2025. The March to Kigali campaign is to ensure that deaths from malaria are reduced by 90% as well as see a 50% reduction in malaria case incidence. Since 2012, Ghana has made significant progress in the fight against malaria. Malaria admissions at all ages have reduced by 28 % from 428,000 in 2012 to 308,887 in 2020. Deaths have also reduced from 2799 in 2012 to 308 in 2020, this is an 80% reduction.
Despite these, however, malaria continues to remain a public health problem. Last year 5.7 million confirmed malaria cases were recorded, almost 280 thousand malaria patients were admitted while 275 died from malaria. The March to Kigali campaign is to ensure that these numbers reduce drastically as well as achieve malaria pre-elimination in at least 6 districts by 2025. Strategies for the march to Kigali campaign which started in 2021 include larvae source management, distribution of insecticide-treated nets (ITN), mass campaign, as well as case management in all districts in the country. Key messages of the campaign are for National governments to increase domestic resources for malaria, increase the contribution of the private sector to domestic resource mobilization, integrate gender in national malaria policies as well as make them community-based.
Programme Manager of the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP)Dr Keziah Malm speaking at the launch said the campaign will increase awareness and create a platform for impact. She said this will ensure that Ghana moves into elimination. Dr Malm called on both public and private institutions to support the fight. The March to Kigali is led by a group of like-minded CSOs (Civil Society Organizations) representing a range of francophone and Anglophone African nations who are aiming to secure commitments from regional, national and sub-national stakeholders to end these epidemics by 2030. One of such is the African Media and Malaria Research Network, AMMREN. Its Executive Secretary Dr Charity Binka called on governments and partners to commit to and prioritise investments needed to build stronger health systems and to put an end to malaria and NTDs.
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