The Ghana Health Service, with
the National Malaria Control Programme, has started the distribution of about
1.5 million treated insecticides mosquito nets throughout the Eastern Region.
The exercise, which is running concurrently with another in
the Volta Region, where the same quantity is being distributed, would end by
the weekend.
Addressing the media as part of a sensitisation programme at
Koforidua, Mr Kwame Gakpe, Coordinator for the National Malaria Control
Programme, said the exercise was expected to cover over 95 per cent of
households in the two regions.
He expressed worry that malaria cases recorded at the
hospitals nationwide covered about 45 per cent of Out Patient Department (OPD)
cases, saying, Ghanaians should be more committed to the cause of reducing the
rate drastically.
Mr Gapke said the exercise was to replace the expired
insecticide nets distributed in 2011, under the Universal Hung-Up Project since
“the lifespan of every insecticide net is three years or 20 washes from the
start of its use.”
He emphasised that the intervention, which sought to
distribute free insecticide treated nets to every household, was aimed at
helping to reduce malarial cases.
“This year’s exercise is based on registration of household
members and issuing of coupons to them, after which they are expected to
present the coupons at a distribution point being positioned at vantage points
in the communities to collect their free mosquito nets,” he said.
The Reverend Richard K. Yeboah, Eastern Regional Coordinator
of the Malaria Control Programme, said the nets were not for sale, emphasizing
that, “under no circumstance should any household member be charged to pay for
them.”
He clarified that, every household of one to four members
were entitled to two treated nets, whereas households of five or more were
entitled to three nets.
Rev. Yeboah cautioned beneficiaries to handle the nets with
maximum care to keep them potent, saying, “the moment households receive the
nets, they must open and spread them for 24 hours before sleeping in them.”
“The treated nets are not to be put under sunlight and should
not be washed with detergents since detergents destroy the insecticide in the
nets, thereby rendering them impotent to kill the mosquitoes,” he said.
The Regional Coordinator reminded household members,
especially those in the rural areas that, the nets were “treated bed nets” and
should not be used for fishing.
Credit: GNA
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