Malaria cases counts as one of the highest morbidity cases in the country
No infant or adult has died from malaria complications from 2017 to date at both North and South Dayi districts of the Volta Region of Ghana.
The two districts have as well recorded relatively dipped malaria cases between the same period of 2017 and 2020, and including January and February 2021.
Also, the health centres in North and South Dayi are continually recording marginally decreased malaria cases, especially among infants who are mostly vulnerable to the deadly disease which is among the high morbidity cases in the health facilities.
This came to light when the two districts were visited as part of a national media malaria advocacy under the efforts of the African Media and Malaria Research Network (AMMREN).
In an interview, the Health Information Officer at the South Dayi District of the Ghana Health Service, Vadis Adesi, said that even though malaria has been among the top morbidity cases in South Dayi, the malaria case management system in the District has been very robust and that it has attributed to smoothening the road to winning the fight against the disease in that part of Ghana.
“Malaria has been one of the highest causes of OPD attendants and one of the cases we almost always see in our facilities. In 2017, the District recorded 14,072 malaria cases out of 53,849 OPD attendants and there was no malaria death.
“In 2018, 16,251 confirmed malaria cases out of OPD attendants of 67,838 and there was no death as well in that year attributable to malaria. So, when you come to 2019, we had 15,649 confirmed cases of malaria and the OPD attendants for 2019 was 64,924. No death.
“Last year, which was 2020, there was drastic reduction in the malaria cases, about 50% reduction; So, we had 8,684 malaria cases from 15,649 recorded in 2019.
"There was a sharp decline of malaria cases in 2020. There was no death,” Vadis Adesi recounted, adding that the emergence of coronavirus last year contributed to the sharp reduction in the OPD attendants and confirmed malaria cases.
On his part, the Disease Control Officer who doubles as the Coordinator for the Expanded Programmes for Immunisation (EPI) for North Dayi District, Michael Eshun, recounted that the District recorded no malaria-related deaths since 2017 even though they record some up and downtrend of confirmed cases.
He said in 2017, confirmed malaria cases were 10,042 with no death. In 2018, confirmed cases were 10,281 with no death and in 2019, we recorded a total of 12,583 confirmed cases whereas a total of 8,266 confirmed cases were recorded and there was no death recorded for malaria in those years as well.
When asked what could be the reason for the zero-malaria death and the steady decrease in confirmed malaria cases, representatives from the two Dayi Districts attributed the secret to the various interventions which are being undertaken to eradicate malaria in the two Districts.
“The District put in some interventions and one is the pregnant women who visit our ANC clinic are given the Insecticide Treated Nets (ITN). We also distribute the ITN to the schools in the Districts. Then we also participated in giving out the ITN to the households and another one was children who come for measles from 18 months, we give them the ITN.
“I am happy (we have recorded zero malaria deaths) because it means the interventions that we have put in place, the people are adhering to them,” Ms. Patience Nunoo, the South Dayi District Health Director stated.
For the Medical Superintendent of the Catholic Hospital at Anfoega in the North Dayi District, Dr. Richard Loglo, one of the key solutions that have helped reduce malaria deaths and cases among children at his hospital and the District as a whole is the introduction of the malaria vaccination programme.
“It is an exciting news for us that since 2017 we have not had any death relating to malaria. The education that goes on in the communities and the distribution of the free mosquito nets also helped to curb the incidence of malaria.
“But we also know that there is a vaccination programme that has been embarked upon from 2019. We have really noticed that there has been a drastic reduction in admission of children. We believe that the vaccination has also played a major role in the reduction of malaria cases in children,” Dr. Loglo expressed.
According to world statistics, more than 400,000 deaths are attributed to malaria each year. Ghana records an estimated 11,070 malaria deaths with that of under-five mortality pegging at 5,607.
Information also suggests that African children are at highest risk of dying of malaria and malaria accounted for more than 265,000 deaths of children in Africa in 2019.
There has however been an introduction of malaria vaccination with current implementation being piloted in three countries in Africa including Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi.
The malaria vaccine is simply called RTS,S and eligible children receive four doses of the vaccine.
In Ghana, the RTS,S vaccination is on-going in 42 Districts in seven regions and it is administered to eligible children from the age of 6 months, with the final dose given at 24 months of age.
With the combination of malaria interventions in use in the North and South Dayi Districts of Ghana, it is evident that the two Districts have not so far contributed to the national, continental and world malaria deaths in the past four years.