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Oone hundred health experts from 36 countries from Africa, Europe and the Americas are attending a week-long leadership development course on the “Science of defeating malaria” at the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) at Sokode-Lokoe, near Ho, in the Volta Region.The event, which began last Monday, is being organised in collaboration with the Harvard University in the US and Cheikh Ana Diop University (UCAD) of Dakar, Senegal. It is aimed at sharpening the participants’ leadership skills and also building new pathways towards malaria eradication.
The Presidential Advisor on Health, Dr Anthony Nsiah-Asare, said the country had made significant progress in its efforts to control and eliminate malaria over the years. As a result, he said deaths due to malaria recorded at various health facilities consistently reduced from 3,259 in 2011 to 147 in 2022.
Malaria parasite prevalence in children under five years also reduced from 27 per cent in 2011 to 8.6 per cent in 2022, Dr Nsiah-Asare added. “These achievements were as a result of concerted and coordinated efforts of the Ministry of Health and Ghana Health Services with support from partners,” he said.
Dr Nsiah-Asare also said that Ghana was one of the three countries rolling out the world’s first malaria vaccine which had been safely administered to more than 2.5 million children, alongside routine vaccines in the past three years.
He gave an assurance that the World Health Organisation and other partners in the global health community were working to ensure sufficient vaccine supply to meet demands.
Dr Nsiah-Asare said the intervention would benefit children living in areas where malaria was a major public health risk.
The Vice-Chancellor of UHAS, Professor Lydia Aziato, said the university was one out of 16 public sector institutions solely dedicated to training of health professionals across disciplines.
The participants
She commended the participants for turning up for the course, saying their presence underscored the significance of global collaboration, teamwork in research and academic fellowship in the fight against malaria.
The Volta Regional Minister, Dr Archibald Yao Letsa, described malaria as an ancient disease which had plagued humanity for far too long, claiming countless lives and debilitating many more.
He, however, said there was hope of “Science of defeating malaria” within reach.“With cutting-edge research, innovative technologies and collaborative efforts, we can eradicate this scourge once and for all,” the minister added.
The first edition of the course was held in Senegal last year. Rwanda is to host it next year.
