Test for malaria before commencing treatment – Herbal Physician urges

The Head of the Herbal Unit at the Tema General Hospital, Dr Michael Tetteh, has advised individuals to test for malaria before commencing any related treatment.

He said before a patient should go for Artemisin-based combination therapies, ACTs, they have to test positive for it. He stated that malaria parasites manifest in the body within 10-15 days when bitten by the female Anopheles mosquito.

Dr Tetteh, who is also a Herbal Physician disclosed this during the weekly “Your Health! Our Collective Responsibility! A Ghana News Agency initiative aimed at promoting health-related communication.

The Tema General Hospital Herbal Physician added that people showing symptoms of malaria would be given artemether-lumefantrine medications.

He advised the public to visit health facilities instead of going to the pharmacies first. He noted that even though one tests negative for malaria with the rapid test, it is advisable to visit a health facility to go through the blood film test procedure, which is more specific, and the diagnosis assured.

The World Health Organisation does not encourage the practice of not testing before treatment for malaria, hence, taking any malaria drugs consistently without test would now cause the parasites to develop resistance.