Global Fund Supports Ghana Health Service

Accra, June 14, GNA - Major Courage Quashigah (rtd), Minster of Health on Tuesday presented 200 motorbikes and 500 bicycles worth 460,000 dollars to the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to improve health care delivery. The donation was part of a support programme by the Global Fund to help the Ministry in its efforts to control malaria, tuberculoses and HIV/AIDS, especially at the sub-district level and rural areas. The Minster said the bikes would go a long way to assist health personnel to reach people in the communities. "It is unfortunate that most people in the rural areas do not get access to quality health care because of health personnel's inability to reach them" he said.

Major Quashigah called on health personnel to do their best to educate the public and patients to complete their prescriptions for the treatment of malaria to make the new policy on malaria drugs effective. "Let us do our best to keep our environment clean if we want to win the fight against malaria in the country and make sure that the new malaria drug policy does not suffer the same problem as the first one" he said.

Professor Agyemang Badu-Akosa, Director General of GHS, received the items and said they would use them wisely. Dr Constance Barte-Plange, Head of the National Malaria Control Programme, said through the support of the Global Fund, the programme had been able to reduce malaria cases in the country from 3.5 per cent in 2000 to 3.2 last year. She said the Programme had also helped to reduce the number of children below five years that died from malaria from 3.5 per cent to 2.8 per cent.

The United Nations and the G-8 established the Global Fund in January 2002 to provide additional and complementary funds to fight HIV AIDS, tuberculoses and malaria.