The Ghana Health Service has urged Ghanaians to help combat and eliminate malaria diseases from the country.

The service held a press briefing on 21st April, 2023 ahead of the upcoming World Malaria day to caution and ensure that Ghanaians take heed to the dangers of malaria and fight against the disease.

The Director General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Patrick Kuma Aboagye highlighted on the successes over the years and activities that has been set to eliminate malaria.

“Malaria prevalence has reduced from 27.5% in 2011 to 8.6% in 2022, improved testing from 38% in 2012 to 98% in 2022, reduced deaths due to malaria by 95% between 2012 to 2022 (2,799 deaths in 2012 to 151 in 2022).”

“Annually, World Malaria Day is commemorated to highlight the progress and the needed actions towards malaria elimination.”

“The theme: ‘Time to deliver zero malaria: Invest, Innovate, and Implement,’ the theme emphasizes the need of cross border and multisectoral collaboration as well as ownership of the malaria elimination.

He continued; “In recent months, several activities have been conducted to steer us in the direction of delivering zero malaria. The national programme has undergone a name change to reflect a shift to elimination efforts, National elimination strategic plan which further guides our interventions and investments in lowering the malaria burden country wide is being finalized,” he said.

World Malaria Day is commemorated yearly on 25th April across the globe to recount the successes and challenges in the fight against malaria globally.

Malaria is a disease that affects all populations, and is of great concern to many countries, especially African countries as they strive to reduce its burden on the general population.

According to the WHO 2022 World Malaria Report, there were an estimated 619,000 malaria deaths globally in 2021 compared to 625,000 in the first year of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

In 2019, before the pandemic struck, the number of malaria deaths stood at 568,000 with malaria cases seeing a continues rise between 2020 and 2021 but a lower rate between 2019 and 2020. Globally malaria cases reached 247 million in 2021 compared to 245 million in 2020 and 232 million in 2019. Sub-Saharan Africa alone accounted for the greatest burden of the disease (about 95% of all malaria cases and 96% of all deaths) in 2020 with about 80% among children less than 5 years of age.

As Ghana strives to eliminate malaria, it is crucial for investment to be made in malaria programs to bridge the existing funding gaps in providing key and workable malaria interventions to all populations in the country at all levels.

The country needs to deliver transformative and improved scientifically proven solutions that are tailored to those who need them the most.