For the past four weeks, Anloga, a farming community in the Keta District of the Volta Region, has experienced a bizarre incident. There is a massive invasion of mosquitoes in the town which has made life unbearable for the people.
Pets and animals are not spared this ?attack?, compelling some of the citizens to keep these animals and pets in mosquito nets to save their lives. Most people in the town who defied the presence of the insects and went ahead to transact business in the night had to have in their possession napkins and towels to ward off the insects from feeding on them.
This situation,according to hospital authorities at Keta, has resulted in the increase in malaria cases in the area recently. When The Mirror team arrived at Anloga last weekend at about 9:30 p.m., most people, particularly those who had closed from evening church services and hawkers, were seen with either towels or handkerchiefs ready to ward off the mosquitoes.
A section of the people The Mirror talked to said they were overwhelmed by the invasion.The District Chief Executive for Keta,Mr Edward Kofi Ahiabor,said the people of Anloga might not be doing enough clean-up exercises,a situation which had led to the choking of gutters,giving the mosquitoes the opportunity to breed.
He also said that there were a lot of hand-dug wells which the people use for farming and domestic activities and said these could be the breeding grounds for the mosquitoes.The DCE said he had urged the people to maintain good sanitation and embark on regular clean-up exercises to keep their environment clean and mosquito-free.
Mr Ahiabor said the assembly was collaborating with an NGO to embark on a massive clean-up exercise.He said as a long-term solution,he had implored the staff of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to come up with a proposal to breed mud fish and tilapia which would be released into the irrigation well for them to feed on the mosquitoes.
They would also dredge the waterway that connects the River Volta to the lagoon.When contacted,the Regent of the Awoamefia Stool,Torgbui Sri III,passionately appealed to NGOs,international donors and philanthropists to come to the aid of the people by assisting them to undertake a mass spraying exercise to rid the area of mosquitoes.
He further advised the people to take environmental issues seriously and make it part of their lives so that Anloga would be rid of mosquitoes in the shortest possible time.
