Strong Partnership is key to eradication of Malaria- Prof Binka

The Dean of the School of Public Health at the University of Ghana,Prof Fred Binka, has stated that the key to the eradication of malaria in the country lies in strong partnership between stakeholders and all Ghanaians.
According to him, the threats to the most effective malarial drug in the history of malaria control, Artemisinin-base Combination Therapies (ACTs), and Sulfadoxine-Pyrimethamine (SP),used for malaria treatment in pregnant women and infants, are costs, counterfeiting and monotherapy or treatment of a condition by a single drug.
He cited that the solutions to these threats are not within the reach of the Ministry of Health and its agencies, and thus, needed to be addressed with a strong partnership of communities, civil society groups, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), media, local government agencies and development partners.
Speaking at the launch of the advocacy and communication materials to be used for a partnership initiative, “United Against Malaria” (UAM), for the winning of the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2012 and the elimination of malaria,Prof Binka stated that progress towards the eradication of malaria has been made globally due to effective malaria interventions, substantial increase in funding, strong and effective partnerships, and focused research on malaria elimination.
The UAM is a partnership initiative between the John Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Voices for a malaria free future, Roll Back Malaria Partnership,the Ghana Health Service and the Ghana Football Association (GFA), that aims to build support for universal access to mosquito nets and malaria medicine in Africa, as the first step towards the elimination of malaria deaths by 2015, by using people’s passion for football as a catalyst to achieve that.
According to Prof Binka, the education programmes on Insecticide Treated Nets (ITNs) needed to be lifted up to encourage the use of the nets by all Ghanaians, especially pregnant women and children. He therefore called on NGOs, the communities, and the Ministry of Health and its agencies to contribute actively to that.
Indoor residual spraying (IRS)has now become a major component of malaria interventions to eliminate malaria. Prof Binka noted, adding that the support from Presidents Malaria Initiate (PMI) has allowed various homes in several districts to be sprayed to protect the families living in those homes.
He attributed the challenge to the (IRS) to the lack of funds to procure the insecticides and the cooperation of the communities to get the homes sprayed before the rains each year.
“We need funds for research into molecules that would be as effective as existing chemicals”, he added.
Strong and effective partnership, he believed, was the key to achieve malaria eradication, and could not be achieved without multi-sectoral collaboration and committed partnerships.
The Ag Director of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Gloria Quansah Asare, stated that winning the AFCON by the Black Stars was a special target to achieve, but winning the war against malaria could be more special.
She reminded all Ghanaians that the stride towards social and economic development would continue to slow down if malaria was not effectively contained.
It was in the light of that the National Strategic Plan for Malaria Control in Ghana (2008-2015) set the ambitious target of reducing the country’s malaria burden by 75 per cent by 2015, in line with the attainment of the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs), she said.
She further pointed out that the levels that had so far been reached in net ownership and use, availability and use of ACTs, adoption of more reliable  diagnostics using RDTs and Microscopy, which has aided in saving many lives, would not have been possible without partnership from development agencies, other government sectors, the private and informal sector and NGOs.
She acknowledged the support of global players such as the Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria, WHO, UNICEF, USA/PMI, DFID, and the mining industry as well as some financial institution.
She called on media personnels to put more efforts in the development and presentation of health messages to their audiences, to make such messages acceptable and easily adopted by all.
The materials launched included “The Goal Newspaper” to intensify malaria prevention and treatment education during the weeks of the AFCON tournament. Other materials were, The Malaria Safe Book, The Winning Moves; a chart or enlarged reminder card which uses football language to direct leadership and staff of companies on ways to win the match against malaria, and finally, a Television spot, depicting Dede Ayew calling on Ghanaians to make the right moves in the prevention of malaria. The TV spot would be shown on GTV,METRO TV and TV3 throughout January and February.