Treated nets for Volta Region from Monday

A total of 1,293,880 Long Lasting Insecticide Treated Nets (LLINs) against mosquitoes are to be distributed among 2,329,043 people in the Volta region between Monday, November 17 and Thursday, November 27 this year.

These are to replace those distributed in 2010 under the Hang-Up programme but have since lost their efficacy.

The efficacy of the LLINs is three years.

Mr. Rowland Glover, Volta Regional Coordinator of the Programme, announced these at a stakeholders meeting in Ho on Friday.

The package is being funded by the USAID, WHO, Episcopal Relief-Nets for Life, Enhanced Social Marketing Initiative (ESM), Global Fund and the Ghana Government.

Mr. Glover said the nets would be distributed according to the sizes of households with two members of each household getting a net.

He explained that where the number of people in a household is an odd number, for example three, they would have two of the LLINs.

He said unlike the hang-up programme where the nets were taken to each household and “fixed” by volunteers, these nets will be distributed at designated spots upon the presentation of a coupon issued to each registered household.

Mr. Glover said the distribution would be monitored by a total of 50 monitors from the Ghana Health Service, WHO and UNICEF from both Accra and Ho with two monitors assigned to each of the 25 districts in the Region.

He explained that the distribution of LLINs was necessary to achieve universal coverage to all parts of the Region and to all households, reduce hospitalization and death among pregnant women and children below five years.

Dr Yao Ofori Yeboah Volta Regional Deputy Director, Public Health said though they did not seem to be a significant drop in malaria cases in general for various reasons, for pregnant women and children below five years malaria cases were going down.

He said people most at risk from malaria were pregnant women and children below five years.

Dr Yeboah said if resources were available, the LLINs would have been one-to-one. He said households with wards in second cycle and tertiary institutions should include them as part of their households during the household registration.

Dr Yeboah said ideally treated nets should be available to the public in the pharmacies, but many people would not consider it essential enough to purchase.

Dr Yeboah said the LLINs were not for sale and has been identified as such by not-for-sale inscriptions and the GHS logo.