Malaria: African kids 10 times more prone to death – Mrs. Akufo-Addo

The Chairperson of Infanta Malaria Prevention Foundation (IMPF), Rebecca Akufo-Addo has said African children are ten times more likely to be killed by malaria than other children around the world.

Mrs Akufo-Addo is, therefore, calling for support to build more clinics to improve the health of people living in poor and remote areas.

At a fundraising ceremony at her residence, Mrs. Akufo-Addo said: “Children in Africa are ten times more likely to die before five years old than children from developed countries. Most of these deaths will be from malaria”.

Infanta is aiming to raise $50,000 to build a clinic at Adenkrebi close to Aburi next year.

The NGO built a Community Health Planning Systems (CHPS) Clinic in the Brong Ahafo region two years ago. After a year of operation, the infant mortality rate decreased considerably from 50 per 1,000 to 17 per 1,000.

IMPF is a non-profit non-governmental organization which seeks to combat malaria through collaboration with leaders in malaria research and through educational and social projects.

The wife of the main opposition New Patriotic Party said one of the most effective solutions towards improving the quality of healthcare is the Community Health Planning Systems (CHPS) Clinics concept.

Under this system, medical staff are resident in the clinics and serve a catchment area between 1,000 to 5,000 people.

The medical staff are equipped to go into communities and treat people who are too sick to visit the clinic. The clinics also take records of everyone in the community and monitor them on a regular basis.