Accra,
Dec.15,
GNA
-
President
George
W
Bush
has
named
Ghana
as
one
of
the
15
focus
countries
to
participate
in
his
1.2
billion-dollar
malaria
initiative.
The
President's
Malaria
Initiative
(PMI)
is
to
reduce
by
50
per
cent
the
number
of
deaths
caused
by
malaria
in
African
countries.
There
are
five
West
African
countries
namely,
Ghana,
Liberia,
Mali,
Benin
and
Senegal
among
those
selected.
The
PMI
will
significantly
increase
resources
to
the
focus
countries
and
provide
the
most
advanced
and
effective
prevention
and
treatment
interventions
to
the
implementing
countries.
Ms
Sue
K.
Brown,
Chargé
d'Affaires
of
the
U.S
Embassy,
who
briefed
the
media
on a
White
House
Summit
on
malaria,
said
the
initiative
called
for
an
ambitious
public-private
effort
to
strengthen
and
expand
malaria
control
efforts
in
Africa.
The
initiative
ensures
the
provision
of
new
effective
drugs
to
rural
clinics,
and
at
least
two
doses
of
medicine
for
pregnant
women
to
protect
themselves
and
their
unborn
babies.
It
also
provides
distribution
of
long
lasting
insecticide-treated
bed
nets
that
prevent
mosquito
bites
and
the
availability
of
insecticides
to
spray
on
the
inside
walls
of
homes
to
kill
mosquitoes
that
transmit
the
disease.
She
said
the
initiative
had
since
2005
reached
and
saved
more
than
six
million
people
in
Angola,
Tanzania
and
Uganda
and
that
a
series
of
proven
programmes
would
be
launched
in
other
countries
to
prevent
millions
of
more
deaths.
Ms
Brown
said
in
Ghana
malaria
was
one
of
the
major
causes
of
poverty,
accounting
for
over
44
per
cent
of
outpatient
visits
and
an
estimated
22
per
cent
of
mortality
of
children
below
five
years.
"More
than
three
million
suspected
malaria
cases
were
seen
in
government
health
facilities
and
over
110,000
patients
were
admitted
to
stay
in
hospital
due
to
malaria,”
she
said.
She
noted
that
Ghana
was
committed
to
the
Roll
Back
Malaria
(RBM)
initiative,
which
was
launched
in
1998.
The
Ghana
RBM
partnership
emphasizes
strengthening
health
services
in
general
and
making
effective
prevention
and
treatment
strategies
more
widely
available.
Major
Courage
Quashigah
(Rtd),
Minister
of
Health,
said
Ghana
was
likely
to
spend
over
500
million
dollars
a
year
in
the
prevention
of
malaria.
He
noted
that
malaria
was
an
enemy
to
human
health
and
impeded
economic
development,
considering
the
huge
amount
of
money
spent
annually
on
it.
He
gave
a
military
strategy
that
could
be
used
in
combating
the
enemy
"malaria",
saying
"to
combat
an
enemy,
their
mode
of
communication
should
be
done
away
with
and
their
source
of
life
be
cut".
GNA
