Friendly smoke or health hazard?

Accra - When one enters many Ghanaian homes in the evenings, especially in the slums and low-income areas in the cities and towns, one is met with pungent scents emanating from smoke coming from burning coils.

These are mosquito repellants that keep burning throughout the night and are supposed to give residents sound sleep.


In the tropical West African country where mosquitoes are a major health menace, the coils have for many years saved people from malaria or even death that mosquitoes cause.


However, there are growing concerns that the smoky mosquito repellants may be doing well in the battle against mosquitoes, but may also be causing humans problems such as catarrh and skin diseases.


"Anytime we use mosquito coils, everybody develops a cold in the house," a housewife said. "They repel the mosquitoes, but they lead to another health problem," she added.


The health authorities have yet to make absolute pronouncements on the health-related problems of the smoky repellants.


The mosquito coils have become very popular in Ghana because they are cheap and can be afforded by the poor instead of insect sprays that are equally effective against the dangerous mosquito.

Traders confirm that have been making fast turnovers in the sale of the smoky repellants, especially as radio and television advertisements have been extolling their potency.


Indeed, there are about 50 brands in the country, many imported from Asia. And their names suggest just how powerful they are against the insects or how comfortable it is after using them.


They go under names like Lion, Tiger, Dagger, Raid or Attack to show potency and Lord, Good Night or Angel to show comfort after use.


Efforts by the health and environment ministries to carry the campaign to the people to stop the breeding of mosquitoes by keeping their environment clean have failed.


The drains are choked, puddles of water and mountains of rubbish, which are just what the mosquitoes need.


The cost of malaria to the economy is high. About 44 percent of all out-patient cases and nearly 22 percent of deaths among children under five are caused by malaria.

In the past few years, medical experts have been deeply concerned about the development of new strains of malaria parasites, which have developed resistance to the orthodox drugs in treating the disease, especially chroloquine.


Health Minister Kweku Afriyie said this has resulted in several different drugs being used for the treatment of malaria.


In one hospital with about 12 doctors, he said, a study found that there were 32 different combinations of drugs and dosages in the treatment of malaria.


Afriyie said the Ghana Medical and Dental Council should therefore work out and enforce a new national standard for malaria treatment in the face of reports that doctors have been deviating from standard guidelines for the treatment of the disease.


In the meantime, there are no vaccines against malaria. The mosquitoes continue to be a menace and smoky repellants remain popular with the poor.