Malarial mosquitoes don’t breed in filth

Saturday, April 25, 2009 (The Mirror Pg 25)

By Rebecca Kwei
A Medical entomologist of the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP), Ms Aba Baffoe-Wilmot, has discounted the notion that the malarial mosquito breeds in filthy areas.
“Filth is not malaria. The mosquito which the public presumes to breed on rubbish dumps and gutters are not malarial mosquitoes. There are other mosquitoes that will breed in such areas but not the malarial mosquito,” she said.
Ms Baffoe-Wilmot, who was making a presentation on the “Epidemiology of Malaria and the Malaria Vector control in Ghana” at a day’s seminar for the media in Accra, said the malarial mosquito was not attracted to filthy areas but in relatively clean water, potholes, ponds, poodles, excavations, rice fields, stagnant waters along rivers and streams.
The seminar, which was organised by the NMCP, formed part of activities to mark this year’s World Malaria Day, which falls today, April 25, on the theme “Counting Malaria Out”.
Malaria is responsible for one out of every four childhood deaths in Africa and it also accounts for 10 per cent of Africa’s disease burden.
In Ghana malaria is a major cause of death and about 4,500 deaths due to malaria are recorded annually.
Ms Baffoe-Wilmot said it was commendable for people to make efforts to clean gutters and clear refuse dumps because they may prevent other diseases but not malaria.
She said one of the malarial mosquitoes, the anopheles gambiae, likes breeding in temporary fresh stagnant waters and that was why malarial cases went up after the rains.
Consequently, she said it was important for potholes to be covered and stagnant waters prevented, not to leave water in flower pots while clean water in containers must be covered to prevent the breeding of the malarial mosquito.
She also recommended the use of insecticide treated nets, which will help reduce malarial cases in the country.
In another presentation, Dr Keziah Malm of the NMCP, said laboratory confirmation of malaria was crucial since not all fevers were malaria and there were a lot of misdiagnoses and over-prescription of malaria.
She said research showed that only about 10 per cent of presumptive treatment of malaria were true cases of malaria in urban areas.
Consequently, a manual has been developed to help laboratory technicians and other health professionals to properly diagnose and ensure that the true picture of malarial cases are presented.
Dr Joseph Somuah Akuamoah, a private medical practitioner, said a tool known as the Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) that would help properly diagnose malaria would be introduced nation-wide.
He encouraged pregnant women to seek early treatment when they got malaria.
On how the media could effectively communicate on malaria, the Country Director of the John Hopkins Centre for Communication Programmes — Voices Project, Mr Emmanuel Fiagbey, said it was necessary to promote stronger partnerships between the media and malarial professionals.
Additionally, he said editorial guidelines which had a health component that included malaria should be a priority for media houses and that an ongoing programme of education and training was required to improve the journalists’ knowledge, as well as their professional skills.