Ghanaian NGO calls on development groups to help eradicate malaria in Ghana by 2015

Development agencies in Ghana must join efforts to eradicate malaria in the country by 2015, Kwabena Osei Bonsu, leader of the nongovernmental organization Add Your Voice Now, said Sunday, GNA/Modern Ghana News reports.

Osei Bonsu was speaking at an event at which AYVN donated 1,000 insecticide-treated nets to pregnant women living in 10 communities in Ghana's Afram Plains district.

World Health Organization statistics indicate that one person dies from malaria every 30 seconds worldwide, Osei Bonsu said, adding that Ghana might lose its future leaders if action is not taken to address the situation. Osei Bonsu noted that his organization has distributed more than 3,000 ITNs to communities in the Eastern, Greater Accra and Volta regions of Ghana, adding that other regions soon will receive supplies. In addition, Osei Bonsu announced that many national figures have joined the campaign against malaria by becoming malaria ambassadors (GNA/Modern Ghana News, 9/1).

Malaria Leading Cause of Mortality Among Children in Ghana

In related news, malaria remains the leading cause of mortality among children in Ghana, with 80,000 children dying of the disease before reaching age five, Sylvester Kyei-Gyamfi, head of the Information Research and Advocacy Division of Ghana's Department of Children, said during a regional forum on children in Ghana, My Joy Online reports. Kyei-Gyamfi added that although the malaria mortality rate among children has declined from 3.7% in 2002 to 2.4% in 2007, the disease remains a major public health concern in the country. Sumani Nayina, northern regional director of the department, at the forum called for a broad collaboration of stakeholders to improve the wellbeing of children in Ghana (My Joy Online, 9/2).