Saturday, February 19, 2011 (The Mirror Pg 3)
By Rebecca Kwei
The Co-ordinator of the Domestic Violence (DV) Coalition, Mr Adolph Awake Bekoe, has called on the government to give priority to gender-based violence and commit more funds for the implementation of the DV Act.
He said the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands was so far the biggest donor towards the implementation of the DV Act, while the government's contribution was negligible.
"Civil society is not happy with the government's commitment. It is rather foreign governments giving support to deal with crimes perpetrated in Ghana," he said.
Mr Bekoe made the call at a one-day domestic violence reporting training for the media in Accra.
The programme was organised by the DV Coalition and sponsored by Cordaid.
He said gender-based violence, among other ills, undermined productivity and development and it was important that the government gave it priority and addressed issues affecting women and children.
"If we want more women to come into the public space, we must ensure they have peace in private space," he added.
He said the funds would also help train and retrain staff of the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU), judges, doctors and civil society and educate the public on domestic violence.
Mr Bekoe expressed concern that the state did not have shelter for abused women, noting that the only one was that of the Ark Foundation, an NGO.
Additionally, he said the coalition was still trying to get the meaning of the free medical provision in the DV Act, since victims of domestic violence still had to pay when they went to clinic.
Consequently, he said most victims of domestic violence did not push for prosecution because they had to foot the bill at the hospital.
Echoing the need for more funds to implement the DV Act, the acting Greater Accra Regional Co-ordinator of DOVVSU, DSP Bismark Agyapong, said the Ghana Police Service started the process of building a complex that would include a temporary shelter, a medical centre and a therapy/counselling room which would go a long way to help victims but that project had been put on hold due to lack of funds.
He mentioned some of the challenges in handling victims as delay in reporting the abuse, difficulty in getting evidence from witnesses to build a good case for prosecution and getting funds for medical treatment and reports.
DSP Agyapong urged the media to see the police as partners working for the common purpose of protecting the vulnerable against all forms of abuse.
He also appealed to the media not to publish one-sided stories.
He said since 2006, the Police Service had introduced gender issues and gender-based violence, child abuse, among others, into the curriculum of all its training schools.
In her presentation on, "Understanding Gender-based Violence and its impact", the Executive Director of the Ark Foundation, Mrs Angela Dwamena-Aboagye, said it was estimated that violence against women was a greater ill-health than traffic accidents, cancer and malaria combined.
She appealed to the media not to trivialise issues concerning gender-based violence.
Participants were also introduced to basic counselling skills.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
What happens to child involved in murder?
Saturday, February 12, 2011 (The Mirror Pg 3)
By Rebecca Kwei
In December last year, a four-year-old boy shot his seven-year-old sister while he was playing with his father’s shotgun at Magagia Camp at Sefwi-Wiawso.
Another incident occurred at Enhuutem-Eniehu, near Enchi in the Aowin-Suaman District, when a 13-year-old boy shot and killed a man believed to be mentally unstable.
Residents of Amisano, near Cape Coast in the Central Region, were left in tears last weekend when a 10-year-old boy accidentally shot and killed his friend.
These are a few of the most recent incidents involving children playing with shotguns, resulting in the accidental murder or injury to others.
But what happens to these children who are involved in such incidents?
According to the Public Relations Officer of the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU), Chief Inspector Irene Oppong, under the Criminal Code when a child below 12 commits such a murder, it is considered that the child has not committed any crime.
Act 29/60 Section 26 states that nothing is a crime committed by a person under 12.
What the prosecutors do is investigate the circumstances under which the crime was committed and if it is found out that it was through the negligence of an elderly person that the incident occurred, then he or she is arrested and prosecuted.
Additionally, if the act also exposed other children to danger, the elderly person is charged with that offence.
Chief Inspector Oppong said in such a situation a child who is below 12 is then taken through counselling and he might be used as a witness during the court process, depending on the circumstances.
She explained that if the child is 12 and above, upon committing the crime he or she is sent to the remand home at Osu, instead of the Nsawam Prison, and after investigations he or she might be prosecuted before a juvenile court and, if found guilty, he or she is sent to a correctional centre.
She explained that in all murder cases the docket was referred to the Attorney-General’s Office for advice.
On what would make a child pull the trigger, a consultant clinical psychologist of Psyconsult, Mr Nortey Dua, said most children world-wide were brought up and socialised in an environment that seemed to condone and endorse violence as a means of resolving conflict.
“Young children easily pick up and imitate the models and values they are bombarded with frequently. Thus some children have become desensitised to violence, even in their immature developing minds, and they see nothing wrong with violence or its consequence,” he explained.
He said children who were exposed to firearms also had the opportunity to fantasise about their use and they might, therefore, be tempted to actualise those maladaptive thoughts.
Mr Dua said some children might have an idea of the consequences but they might be too immature and impulsive to process that meaningfully in the face of strong urges, thoughts and feelings.
On what happened to a child when he/she accidentally killed, he said it was important that such a child and his or her family were shielded or protected from sensational media glare to facilitate a proper investigation into the circumstances leading up to the unfortunate incident and also assist with proper therapeutic interventions for him or her and the family.
He said investigations should be conducted by persons with the requisite professional qualifications and competencies to handle such cases, such as clinical psychologists, social workers, psychiatrists and a full medico-legal team.
“Depending on the nature of the incident and the age of the child, a broad range of reactions needs to be expected, identified and managed, such as guilt, depression and other mood disorders, suicidal thoughts and attempts, post-traumatic stress disorders, aggression, conduct disorders, sleep, eating and learning disorders,” he explained.
He further said a proper and detailed assessment of the child's psycho-social adjustment must be undertaken and recommendations made for both short and long-term management.
The family, he said, must also be helped to come to terms with the reality of the situation and also helped to acquire effective coping skills.
Mr Dua called for a lot more public and family education at all levels of society and clear messages given that violence was unacceptable in all forms and manifestations.
He called for censorship of the mass media with regard to violent language and films which seemed to model violence as an acceptable conflict resolution tool.
He said parents were ultimately responsible for the safety of their children and it was their duty to protect the children from exposure to danger or harm and also provide their needs.
Mr Dua said parents who left dangerous chemicals, implements, weapons and others which exposed their children to danger and or harm must be appropriately sanctioned in accordance with the laws of the country.
By Rebecca Kwei
In December last year, a four-year-old boy shot his seven-year-old sister while he was playing with his father’s shotgun at Magagia Camp at Sefwi-Wiawso.
Another incident occurred at Enhuutem-Eniehu, near Enchi in the Aowin-Suaman District, when a 13-year-old boy shot and killed a man believed to be mentally unstable.
Residents of Amisano, near Cape Coast in the Central Region, were left in tears last weekend when a 10-year-old boy accidentally shot and killed his friend.
These are a few of the most recent incidents involving children playing with shotguns, resulting in the accidental murder or injury to others.
But what happens to these children who are involved in such incidents?
According to the Public Relations Officer of the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU), Chief Inspector Irene Oppong, under the Criminal Code when a child below 12 commits such a murder, it is considered that the child has not committed any crime.
Act 29/60 Section 26 states that nothing is a crime committed by a person under 12.
What the prosecutors do is investigate the circumstances under which the crime was committed and if it is found out that it was through the negligence of an elderly person that the incident occurred, then he or she is arrested and prosecuted.
Additionally, if the act also exposed other children to danger, the elderly person is charged with that offence.
Chief Inspector Oppong said in such a situation a child who is below 12 is then taken through counselling and he might be used as a witness during the court process, depending on the circumstances.
She explained that if the child is 12 and above, upon committing the crime he or she is sent to the remand home at Osu, instead of the Nsawam Prison, and after investigations he or she might be prosecuted before a juvenile court and, if found guilty, he or she is sent to a correctional centre.
She explained that in all murder cases the docket was referred to the Attorney-General’s Office for advice.
On what would make a child pull the trigger, a consultant clinical psychologist of Psyconsult, Mr Nortey Dua, said most children world-wide were brought up and socialised in an environment that seemed to condone and endorse violence as a means of resolving conflict.
“Young children easily pick up and imitate the models and values they are bombarded with frequently. Thus some children have become desensitised to violence, even in their immature developing minds, and they see nothing wrong with violence or its consequence,” he explained.
He said children who were exposed to firearms also had the opportunity to fantasise about their use and they might, therefore, be tempted to actualise those maladaptive thoughts.
Mr Dua said some children might have an idea of the consequences but they might be too immature and impulsive to process that meaningfully in the face of strong urges, thoughts and feelings.
On what happened to a child when he/she accidentally killed, he said it was important that such a child and his or her family were shielded or protected from sensational media glare to facilitate a proper investigation into the circumstances leading up to the unfortunate incident and also assist with proper therapeutic interventions for him or her and the family.
He said investigations should be conducted by persons with the requisite professional qualifications and competencies to handle such cases, such as clinical psychologists, social workers, psychiatrists and a full medico-legal team.
“Depending on the nature of the incident and the age of the child, a broad range of reactions needs to be expected, identified and managed, such as guilt, depression and other mood disorders, suicidal thoughts and attempts, post-traumatic stress disorders, aggression, conduct disorders, sleep, eating and learning disorders,” he explained.
He further said a proper and detailed assessment of the child's psycho-social adjustment must be undertaken and recommendations made for both short and long-term management.
The family, he said, must also be helped to come to terms with the reality of the situation and also helped to acquire effective coping skills.
Mr Dua called for a lot more public and family education at all levels of society and clear messages given that violence was unacceptable in all forms and manifestations.
He called for censorship of the mass media with regard to violent language and films which seemed to model violence as an acceptable conflict resolution tool.
He said parents were ultimately responsible for the safety of their children and it was their duty to protect the children from exposure to danger or harm and also provide their needs.
Mr Dua said parents who left dangerous chemicals, implements, weapons and others which exposed their children to danger and or harm must be appropriately sanctioned in accordance with the laws of the country.
Multi-sectoral approach in health delivery vital
Saturday, February 5, 2011 (The Mirror Pg 13)
By Rebecca Kwei
The Chief Pharmacist and Director of Pharmaceutical Services, Mrs Martha Gyansa-Lutterodt, has reiterated the need for a multi-sectoral approach to help remove barriers to access to affordable medicines in the country.
She said multi-sectoral approach in the health delivery system had been proven to be effective and also made the implementation of health policies easier.
Mrs Gyansa-Lutterodt was speaking at the launch of a publication of the Medicines Transparency Alliance (MeTA) Ghana in Accra.
The publication, dubbed ‘Memorable Milestones 2008-2010’ highlights the success, challenges and lessons learned during the two-year pilot phase of the MeTA project.
MeTA is an alliance of partners working to improve access to medicines by increasing transparency and accountability in the healthcare marketplace. It was funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and piloted in Ghana, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Peru, the Philippines, Uganda and Zambia.
Mrs Gyansa-Lutterodt said all over the world policy development hinged on multi-sectoral approach and the lessons and successes chalked up by MeTA had shown that public, private and civil society collaboration was the way to go.
A co-chair of MeTA Ghana, Prof. David Ofori-Adjei, said the project had worked tirelessly to build a harmonious alliance of public, private and civil society stakeholders which now constituted the driving force to improve access to safe, efficacious and affordable medicines for Ghanaians.
For his part, Dr Alex Dodoo, also a co-chair of MeTA, said the two-year MeTA pilot ended in September last year and there was the need to be creative in finding ways to sustain the project, since MeTA’s cause of ensuring that all medicines in the country were of the best quality, easily available, prescribed and dispensed properly, and used rationally could not be downplayed.
Mr John Allotey, who represented the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana, said the project enabled members to hold discussions with policy makers and policy implementors which helped in the formulation of policies that impacted positively on the lives of Ghanaians.
He said it was important that MeTA became an entrenched institution in the country to ensure transparency and accountability in the medicine supply chain.
A member of the MeTA Governing Council who represented Civil Society Organisations (CSO), Mr Charles Allotey, said the MeTA project had helped build the capacity of CSOs to engage and discuss issues relating to medicine distribution and pricing.
He said the project had trained more than 100 CSOs and a network of CSOs had also been established across the 10 regions of Ghana to work in medicines transparency issues.
A director at the Ministry of Health, Mr Sam Boateng, who launched the publication, said MeTA had deepened the multi-sectoral approach and also empowered consumers to have a voice in issues relating to medicines.
By Rebecca Kwei
The Chief Pharmacist and Director of Pharmaceutical Services, Mrs Martha Gyansa-Lutterodt, has reiterated the need for a multi-sectoral approach to help remove barriers to access to affordable medicines in the country.
She said multi-sectoral approach in the health delivery system had been proven to be effective and also made the implementation of health policies easier.
Mrs Gyansa-Lutterodt was speaking at the launch of a publication of the Medicines Transparency Alliance (MeTA) Ghana in Accra.
The publication, dubbed ‘Memorable Milestones 2008-2010’ highlights the success, challenges and lessons learned during the two-year pilot phase of the MeTA project.
MeTA is an alliance of partners working to improve access to medicines by increasing transparency and accountability in the healthcare marketplace. It was funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and piloted in Ghana, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Peru, the Philippines, Uganda and Zambia.
Mrs Gyansa-Lutterodt said all over the world policy development hinged on multi-sectoral approach and the lessons and successes chalked up by MeTA had shown that public, private and civil society collaboration was the way to go.
A co-chair of MeTA Ghana, Prof. David Ofori-Adjei, said the project had worked tirelessly to build a harmonious alliance of public, private and civil society stakeholders which now constituted the driving force to improve access to safe, efficacious and affordable medicines for Ghanaians.
For his part, Dr Alex Dodoo, also a co-chair of MeTA, said the two-year MeTA pilot ended in September last year and there was the need to be creative in finding ways to sustain the project, since MeTA’s cause of ensuring that all medicines in the country were of the best quality, easily available, prescribed and dispensed properly, and used rationally could not be downplayed.
Mr John Allotey, who represented the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana, said the project enabled members to hold discussions with policy makers and policy implementors which helped in the formulation of policies that impacted positively on the lives of Ghanaians.
He said it was important that MeTA became an entrenched institution in the country to ensure transparency and accountability in the medicine supply chain.
A member of the MeTA Governing Council who represented Civil Society Organisations (CSO), Mr Charles Allotey, said the MeTA project had helped build the capacity of CSOs to engage and discuss issues relating to medicine distribution and pricing.
He said the project had trained more than 100 CSOs and a network of CSOs had also been established across the 10 regions of Ghana to work in medicines transparency issues.
A director at the Ministry of Health, Mr Sam Boateng, who launched the publication, said MeTA had deepened the multi-sectoral approach and also empowered consumers to have a voice in issues relating to medicines.
Find new ways to source funds for research
Saturday, January 29, 2011 (The Mirror Pg 12)
By Rebecca Kwei
THE Director of the Research Division of the Ghana Health Service, Professor John Gyapong, has called on scientists in developing countries to find innovative ways of sourcing for funds for research.
He said most development partners were inundated with appeals and it was important that scientists begin to diversify their sources of funding.
Prof. Gyapong made the call at the last Annual General Meeting of the Malaria Clinical Trials Alliance (MCTA) in Accra. The MCTA is a project of the INDEPTH Network of demographic surveillance centres to help conduct clinical trials of new drugs and vaccines to fight malaria and to provide training and technical assistance to research centres across Africa among others. There are 16 centres comprising the MCTA network in 10 African countries including Ghana.
The project, which was launched in 2006 with a $17 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, will wind up in February this year.
Prof. Gyapong said over the last decade, several declarations had been made to support all forms of research.
However, he noted that mechanisms had not been put in place to ensure that those goals were achieved.
“If half of these declarations to support research have been implemented then probably, we would not need donor organisations to source for funds,” he said.
He commended the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for supporting the MCTA since it was good to invest in the infrastructure and human capacity for research to achieve the desired results.
Prof. Gyapong said it was important for research to be prioritised and the GHS in its own way had ensured that was done by moving research from a small unit to a divisional level.
He encouraged scientists to engage policy makers to ensure that research findings flowed easily into policy making so that the gap between research and policy making was bridged.
The Project Manager of the MCTA, Prof. Fred Binka, said the project had developed the human capacity of most African scientists to conduct quality research.
He said they had leadership that was 100 per cent African, unlike the past when they were led by foreigners.
He said the project had also increased the number of sites in Africa which were properly equipped and managed and ready to conduct quality clinical trials on vaccines and drug interventions.
Prof. Binka said the MCTA was conducting clinical trials of the new malaria vaccine for its safety and also monitoring the effectiveness of malarial drugs being deployed in African countries under the INDEPTH Effectiveness and Safety Studies of Anti-malarial drugs in Africa (INESS).
He pointed out that although the MCTA project was coming to an end, the trial sites were functional and was continuing the INESS project and trials for the malaria vaccine.
He said strengthening clinical trial facilities in Africa was key to saving millions of lives and that was what the MCTA sought to do.
The Programme Officer, Infectious Diseases, Global Health Programme of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Jessica Milman, said the foundation was very happy about the work the MCTA had carried out over the past five years and that was why it again supported the INESS project.
The Executive Director of the INDEPTH Network, Dr Osman Sankoh, said the work of the MCTA had helped to strengthen global research and development activities targeting malaria.
By Rebecca Kwei
THE Director of the Research Division of the Ghana Health Service, Professor John Gyapong, has called on scientists in developing countries to find innovative ways of sourcing for funds for research.
He said most development partners were inundated with appeals and it was important that scientists begin to diversify their sources of funding.
Prof. Gyapong made the call at the last Annual General Meeting of the Malaria Clinical Trials Alliance (MCTA) in Accra. The MCTA is a project of the INDEPTH Network of demographic surveillance centres to help conduct clinical trials of new drugs and vaccines to fight malaria and to provide training and technical assistance to research centres across Africa among others. There are 16 centres comprising the MCTA network in 10 African countries including Ghana.
The project, which was launched in 2006 with a $17 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, will wind up in February this year.
Prof. Gyapong said over the last decade, several declarations had been made to support all forms of research.
However, he noted that mechanisms had not been put in place to ensure that those goals were achieved.
“If half of these declarations to support research have been implemented then probably, we would not need donor organisations to source for funds,” he said.
He commended the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for supporting the MCTA since it was good to invest in the infrastructure and human capacity for research to achieve the desired results.
Prof. Gyapong said it was important for research to be prioritised and the GHS in its own way had ensured that was done by moving research from a small unit to a divisional level.
He encouraged scientists to engage policy makers to ensure that research findings flowed easily into policy making so that the gap between research and policy making was bridged.
The Project Manager of the MCTA, Prof. Fred Binka, said the project had developed the human capacity of most African scientists to conduct quality research.
He said they had leadership that was 100 per cent African, unlike the past when they were led by foreigners.
He said the project had also increased the number of sites in Africa which were properly equipped and managed and ready to conduct quality clinical trials on vaccines and drug interventions.
Prof. Binka said the MCTA was conducting clinical trials of the new malaria vaccine for its safety and also monitoring the effectiveness of malarial drugs being deployed in African countries under the INDEPTH Effectiveness and Safety Studies of Anti-malarial drugs in Africa (INESS).
He pointed out that although the MCTA project was coming to an end, the trial sites were functional and was continuing the INESS project and trials for the malaria vaccine.
He said strengthening clinical trial facilities in Africa was key to saving millions of lives and that was what the MCTA sought to do.
The Programme Officer, Infectious Diseases, Global Health Programme of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Jessica Milman, said the foundation was very happy about the work the MCTA had carried out over the past five years and that was why it again supported the INESS project.
The Executive Director of the INDEPTH Network, Dr Osman Sankoh, said the work of the MCTA had helped to strengthen global research and development activities targeting malaria.
Intensify malaria control measures — WHO
Saturday, January 29, 2011 (The Mirror Pg 13)
By Rebecca Kwei
THE World Health Organisation (WHO) has called on malaria endemic countries to intensify good malaria control measures in order to reduce transmission and lower the risk of resistant parasites from spreading.
This comes in the wake of reports of evidence of resistance to artemisinins being identified and confirmed on the Cambodia-Thailand border in Asia. The first resistance to chloroquine was discovered in the same region about a decade ago, leading to its ban later on in malaria endemic countries which had also developed resistance to it.
The WHO currently recommends the use of Artemisinin-based Combination Therapies (ACTs) for the treatment of uncomplicated malaria. The first line ACTs for the treatment of uncomplicated malaria in Ghana is the Artesunate Amodiaquine (ASAQ) while the second line is Arthemether/Lumefantrine (AL) or Dihydroartemisin Piperaquine (DHAP).
Fortunately, there has not been any resistance to artemisinins in Ghana but there is the need to mobilise immediately to contain artemisinin resistance and stop its spread to new areas.
Consequently, the WHO has developed the Global Plan for Artemisinin Resistance Containment (GPARC) which calls to action the prevention of resistance development in ACTs.
The plan was jointly developed by the Global Malaria Programme and the Roll Back Malaria in consultation with more than 100 malaria experts and seeks to guide countries on how to prevent development of resistance to artemisinin.
Speaking at a press briefing in Accra, the WHO Advisor for Malaria, Dr Felicia Owusu-Antwi, said what countries could do to prevent the emergence of resistance was to increase monitoring and surveillance to evaluate the threat of artemisinin resistance as well as improve access to diagnostics and rational treatment with ACTs.
For Ghana, she among others said, “There should be consistent and accurate diagnostic testing for patients suspected of having malaria; better access to ACTs for confirmed malaria cases; compliance with ACT treatment; removal or non patronage of artemisinin mono-therapies and elimination of all sub-standard and counterfeit drugs.
The Programme Manager of the National Malaria Control Programme, Dr Constance Bart-Plange, said it was important to guard ACTs because “if we lose ACTs we are finished.”
She said doctors have been retrained but there were still some “stubborn ones who were still prescribing monotherapy” which were no longer effective treatment for malaria.
On making ACTs affordable, she said with the introduction of the Affordable Medicines Facility-Malaria (AMFm), the ACTs which were of good quality were selling between GH¢1 to 1.50 p.
However, she said some saboteurs were selling the medicines at very high prices and called on the public to be on the look out and report such people.
Dr Bart-Plange said the era where every fever was malaria was over and that the NMCP had deployed rapid diagnostic test kits to health facilities and pharmacies to ensure that people were confirmed to be having malaria before they were given an anti-malarial.
The programme was organised by the Johns Hopkins University Voices for Malaria Free Future in collaboration with the NMCP and the Ghana Health Service.
By Rebecca Kwei
THE World Health Organisation (WHO) has called on malaria endemic countries to intensify good malaria control measures in order to reduce transmission and lower the risk of resistant parasites from spreading.
This comes in the wake of reports of evidence of resistance to artemisinins being identified and confirmed on the Cambodia-Thailand border in Asia. The first resistance to chloroquine was discovered in the same region about a decade ago, leading to its ban later on in malaria endemic countries which had also developed resistance to it.
The WHO currently recommends the use of Artemisinin-based Combination Therapies (ACTs) for the treatment of uncomplicated malaria. The first line ACTs for the treatment of uncomplicated malaria in Ghana is the Artesunate Amodiaquine (ASAQ) while the second line is Arthemether/Lumefantrine (AL) or Dihydroartemisin Piperaquine (DHAP).
Fortunately, there has not been any resistance to artemisinins in Ghana but there is the need to mobilise immediately to contain artemisinin resistance and stop its spread to new areas.
Consequently, the WHO has developed the Global Plan for Artemisinin Resistance Containment (GPARC) which calls to action the prevention of resistance development in ACTs.
The plan was jointly developed by the Global Malaria Programme and the Roll Back Malaria in consultation with more than 100 malaria experts and seeks to guide countries on how to prevent development of resistance to artemisinin.
Speaking at a press briefing in Accra, the WHO Advisor for Malaria, Dr Felicia Owusu-Antwi, said what countries could do to prevent the emergence of resistance was to increase monitoring and surveillance to evaluate the threat of artemisinin resistance as well as improve access to diagnostics and rational treatment with ACTs.
For Ghana, she among others said, “There should be consistent and accurate diagnostic testing for patients suspected of having malaria; better access to ACTs for confirmed malaria cases; compliance with ACT treatment; removal or non patronage of artemisinin mono-therapies and elimination of all sub-standard and counterfeit drugs.
The Programme Manager of the National Malaria Control Programme, Dr Constance Bart-Plange, said it was important to guard ACTs because “if we lose ACTs we are finished.”
She said doctors have been retrained but there were still some “stubborn ones who were still prescribing monotherapy” which were no longer effective treatment for malaria.
On making ACTs affordable, she said with the introduction of the Affordable Medicines Facility-Malaria (AMFm), the ACTs which were of good quality were selling between GH¢1 to 1.50 p.
However, she said some saboteurs were selling the medicines at very high prices and called on the public to be on the look out and report such people.
Dr Bart-Plange said the era where every fever was malaria was over and that the NMCP had deployed rapid diagnostic test kits to health facilities and pharmacies to ensure that people were confirmed to be having malaria before they were given an anti-malarial.
The programme was organised by the Johns Hopkins University Voices for Malaria Free Future in collaboration with the NMCP and the Ghana Health Service.
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