ISRAD RALLIES STAKEHOLDERS TO COMBAT MALARIA 28th Sept., 2016

The Upper East Regional Coordinator of the Institute of Social Research and Development [ISRAD] a non-profit local development organisation, Mr. Abdul-Razak Issah has made a passionate appeal to Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies [MMDAs] in Ghana to authorise the timely disbursement of funds under the 0.5 percent allocation of the District Assembly Common Fund which is statutorily earmarked for malaria control activities.

Delivering a presentation to some selected stakeholders at Bongo in its series of advocacy meetings dubbed the “ADVOCACY FOR RESOURCES FOR MALARIA STOPPAGE [ARMS] INITIATIVE PROJECT”, Mr. Issah noted that though awareness about the dangers and negative impact of malaria was high among policy makers and the general public, malaria control activities were largely donor funded.

He observed that with Ghana’s current middle income status, donor funding was dwindling and therefore thanked the United Kingdom Aid for International Development [UKAID] which has been a major funding partner for ISRAD’s interventions. He noted that “malaria still remains the leading cause of morbidity and mortality” in Ghana and also commended the Ghana Health Service and the several community volunteers in the project districts as reliable implementing partners whose relentless efforts would ensure the success of the ARMS Initiative and its related malaria control activities.

According to the ISRAD coordinator, the main focus of the project is to form and operationalise District Malaria Advocacy Groups [DMAGs] in the six project districts of the Upper East Region including the Bongo, Nabdam, Talensi and Kassena-Nankana West Districts as well as the Bolgatanga and Kassena-Nankana Municipalities. He disclosed that ISRAD has other sister organisations that were also implementing the initiative in other regions of the country. Among other principles, the ARMS initiative also stands for testing prior to any malaria treatment and tracking after treatment is administered.

Mr. Issah disclosed that the mandate of the DMAGs includes improving involvement of stakeholders in mobilising support for malaria control programmes, improving community participation in health decisions particularly malaria prevention and management, improving mobilisation of resources to ensure regular supply of required malaria commodities such as LLINs and related drugs, improving prevention and treatment capacity for health workers, NGOs and community members and also, ensure the judicious use of resources such as any financial releases from the 0.5%  District Assembly Common Fund allocation for malaria control activities.

He mentioned the Anafobisi, Dua, Kadare, Feo, Balungu and Adaboya communities as being among 10 selected communities in the Bongo District to benefit from the ARMS initiative which has an implementation life span of 12 months ending in June, 2017. He however stated that during implementation, there shall be quarterly review meetings with key advocacy champions in the districts and at the regional level in order to learn and share best practices from the various districts.

ISRAD is a non-profit local development organisation that has been active since 2006 and has the mission of undertaking integrated development research, designing and managing development programmes to improve the lives of people throughout Ghana.

Meanwhile, the Bongo District Health Information Officer, Mr. Alhassan Salifu in presenting an overview of the malaria situation in the district said records available indicated that, there were 342 cases of admissions under-5 due to malaria in 2014 and that the figure dropped to 308 cases in 2015 and further declined to 221 cases in 2016 as at the half-year review. He attributed the gains made to the concerted efforts of all stakeholders in the anti-malaria fight. He however mentioned the emergence of resistance against antimalarial medicines and insecticides as well as misdiagnosis of malaria with its attendant wrong treatment and implied over-consumption of antimalarial medicines as some of the factors working against efforts of malaria control.

Mr. Salifu observed that, a significant proportion of up to 91 percent of reported deaths from malaria occurs in sub- Saharan Africa, where children under-five years of age bear most of the burden. He said in 2010 for instance, it was estimated that 86 percent of all malaria deaths occurred in this age group.

Some religious and traditional leaders, selected staff from the Bongo District Assembly and the Ghana Health Service and some community malaria ambassadors attended the stakeholders meeting.