The Ghana Health Service has taken delivery of 500 bicycles and 200 motorbikes to facilitate the smooth operations of the National Malaria Control Programme.

The funds for the bicycles and motorbikes were assessed through the Global Fund, which was instituted in 2002 by the United Nations and G-8 to provide additional and complementary funds to fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in the Third World Countries.

The fund allocated $ 270000 for the fight against Malaria.

The Minister for Health, Major Courage Quashigah (rtd), said the bicycles and motorbikes would be distributed to all districts in the country, adding that priority would be given to places that were inaccessible by road.

He said the bicycles and motorbikes would facilitates the dissemination of information about malaria , such as the use of the new anti-malaria drugs artesunate amodiaquine, and the use of treated mosquito nets.

He stressed that the bicycles and motorbikes would not only be used for malaria-related issues but for other health issues.

Major Quashigah called on the public to change the attitude whereby they fail to finish the course of drugs prescribed for the treatment of ailments, saying that constituted drug abuse.

He noted that if people did not desist from that attitude, the introduction of artesunate amodiaquine would not be effective.

He urged people to keep their environment clean as a way of leading healthy lives.
The Director General of the Ghana Health Service, Prof. Agyeman Badu Akosa, called on drivers to respect the rights of other motorists and cyclists and avoid ignoring their rights as road users and sometimes going to the extent of pushing them off the road.

He recalled a recent incident where a health worker was killed as a result of such carelessness.

The programme Manager of the National Malaria Control Programme, Dr. Constance Bart-Plange, said malaria cases had dropped from 3.5% in 2000 to 3.3 % in 2004, while fatalities in Children under five years old had dropped from 3.5 % to 2.8%.

She added that there had been an increase in the use of treated mosquito nets from 3.3% to 15%.

Source: Daily Graphic