Ghana launches public-private partnership to control malaria

Ghana's Ministry of Health recently launched the Nationwide Mosquito Control Programme (NAMCOP) in conjunction with the waste management company Zoomlion Ghana Limited, the Ghanaian Chronicle/allAfrica.com reports (Akweetey, Ghanaian Chronicle/allAfrica.com, 6/19).

George Sipa Yankey, Ghana's health minister, said the government is committed to eliminating malaria and that the initiative will be part of a sustained effort so that Ghana can be the first country in West African to eliminate the disease. He said the government also plans to help the region by transferring local malaria elimination skills to other countries in West Africa.

Yankey said NAMCOP will include indoor and outdoor residual spraying of households and boarding schools, intermittent preventive treatment for pregnant women and the distribution of insecticide-treated nets (Amankwah, Public Agenda/allAfrica.com, 6/19). Alhaji Habib Mohammed Ziblim, the coordinator of Zoomlion in charge of NAMCOP, said the company would aim to control the mosquito population to prevent mosquito-transmitted diseases such as malaria, as well as filariasis, yellow fever and viral hemorrhagic fever.

Ziblim said Zoomlion would clean drains and de-silt them to prevent stagnant water – a breeding ground for mosquitoes – from accumulating. In addition, the company will clear bushes, domestic garbage and spray existing stagnant water. He said for the project Zoomlion had acquired 500,000 spraying machines, 300 motorbikes, 30 trucks, insecticides and other related equipment (Ghanaian Chronicle/allAfrica.com, 6/19).