The Anglican Diocesan Development and Relief Organization (ADDRO), through its Community Based Malaria Control Project, has procured and donated anti-malaria medicine to three Districts Health Directorates in the North East Region.

The medicine, mainly 55,200 doses of Sulfadoxine Pyrimethamine (SP) is a preventive treatment for malaria during pregnancy.

The West Mamprusi Municipal Health Directorate, Bunkprugu-Nakpanduri District Health Directorate and Yunyoo-Nasuan District Health Directorate benefited from the donation.

Speaking at the presentation, Mr Emmanuel Tia Nabila, the Executive Director of ADDRO said the gesture was in reaction to a request made by the health facilities for support because they had run out of stock.

He said with funding support from the Comic Relief, his outfit was able to procure a reasonable quantity to augment their shortages.

He said frequent shortages of anti-malaria drugs undermined the efforts to eliminate the disease especially among pregnant women and children below five.

Mr Nabilla said the Community-Based Malaria Control Project was aimed at contributing to reduce malaria and its casualties in the North East, Upper East and Upper West Regions.

Mr Hussein Abdul- Rashid, the Acting District Director of Health, West Mamprusi, who received the items, indicated that malaria continued to remain a threat to lives especially among pregnant women as it was a major cause of anaemia and maternal death and low birth weight.

He said Sulfadoxine Pyrimethamine had proved to be effective at reducing the incidence of pregnancy-associated malaria and called on government to consider adopting it as part of the parameters to control malaria.