A statement signed by Mr Ebenezer Kofi Adu-Lartey, the Chief Executive Officer of the Divine Group International Foundation, and copied to the Ghana News Agency, said the exercise was in commemoration of the 2017 World Malaria Day on the theme: “End Malaria for Good; Invest in Malaria Prevention.”

It said the beneficiary communities included Babile, Tumu, Sazie, Sombo-Nadowli and Wa School for the Blind.  It said the exercise aimed at supporting the rural communities with quality healthcare services and help achieve the Sustainable Development Goal Three set by the United Nations and World Health Organisation.

The statement said the residents received free medical consultation and provision of drugs after diagnosis and were educated on various diseases. It commended the Ghana Health Service and Danadams for their enormous contribution to the success of the programme by providing 2,000 malaria testing kits and anti-malaria drugs.

 The statement also lauded the Church of Pentecost, Ghana Baptist Convention, Letap Pharmaceutical, Ayrton Drugs, Oson’s Chemist, and Shalina Pharmacy for their support.   The statement said malaria remained a public health concern with varying transmission intensity throughout the year adding that the disease affected all ages but children under five and pregnant women were the most vulnerable group.

“The malaria burden is not felt only in the health sector but in other sectors such as social and economic. In 2016 the country recorded 10.4 million suspected cases of outpatient department malaria which is an increase over the 10.1 million suspected cases recorded in 2015, representing about 2.5 per cent increase.

“This translates into approximately 28,607 cases seen per day in 2016 in all health facilities, compared to an average of approximately 27,908 of such cases seen each day in the country’s health facilities in 2015. “The Out Patient Department malaria cases per 1000 population in 2016 was 364 representing a slight increase over the 2015 figure of 663 per 1000 population of country,” it said.