Health Directorate to embark on distribution of nets

The Ashanti Regional Health Directorate from December 7 to 13, 2015 will start distribution of Long Lasting Insecticide Net (LLIN) to various communities in the Region.

The nets would be given to registered individuals who had been given coupons, during the time they registered, to be collected at the various community distribution points.

At a media briefing in Kumasi, Mrs Keziah Malm, the acting Programme Manager of the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP), said the exercise was a continuation of the previous one carried out in 2012, to replace the nets distributed at that time.

She said Eastern, Brong Ahafo, Volta, Western, and Central regions had also benefitted from the programme during the last quarter of 2014 and would be continued to cover the entire country.

This exercise is part of the Nation’s efforts to wipe away malaria entirely from the country, with a target of reducing deaths caused by malaria to 75 per cent by 2020.

She cautioned the public that the nets were strictly not for sale and advised that they were dried in an airy place before use, to prevent skin reactions.

Dr Kwesi Yeboah Awudzi, the Regional Deputy Director of Public Health revealed that malaria was still one of the deadly diseases in the country and no household should hesitate to register so as to get the treated nets.

Dr Awudzi said 67 per cent of deaths among children under age five were due to malaria.