REACH Against Malaria
Malaria is a disease that is caused by a microorganism known as Plasmodium, which is generally carried by female anopheles mosquitoes and is transmitted through mosquito bites. The disease is a health concern in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa because of its high incidence and associated high infant mortality rates. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), malaria can slash economic growth in a country by as much as 1.3%. The WHO reports that in 2006 alone, 247 million cases of malaria were reported worldwide and one million of those represented African children who died of the disease. In Ghana, the disease accounts for about 13.2% of all deaths and 22% of all deaths of children younger than 5 years of age. These statistics compounded with the challenge of chronic illness such as HIV creates public health challenges that are difficult to handle.
There are several key points through which malaria is targeted and controlled. The first key step is to prevent the growth and proliferation of the malaria parasite’s vector - the mosquito. This is often done by methods targeting stagnant water and bushes in environments that can serve as breeding grounds for the mosquitoes, as well as spraying housing structures regularly to get rid of the mosquitoes. The second key step is to prevent transmission of the Plasmodium from the mosquito to a human host. This is often achieved by the use of insecticide-treated mosquito nets that serve as barriers between the mosquitoes and the potential human hosts. Lastly, people who are bitten by mosquitoes carrying the Plasmodium can control the malaria by seeking treatment quickly in order to stop the proliferation of the Plasmodium inside the body as early as possible. Malaria control in Ghana has employed all of the methods mentioned above with the cooperation of many agencies. A “National Malaria Control Program” has been established under the Ministry of Health. With the help of several International agencies such as the WHO and the United U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), efforts have been initiated to fight Malaria in the country.
An anti-malaria campaign conducted under a division of USAID in Ghana called Netmark was able to increase the use of Insecticide Treated Nets (ITNs) across Ghana from about 21% to 63% from 2004 to 2008. Although this program did not correlate the increase in usage of ITNs with a decrease in Malaria burden, their data shows that anti-malarial programs in Ghana can be successful if well planned and executed. Additionally, a multi-faceted anti-malarial program in Obuasi organized by Anglogold Ashanti Company was able to decrease the incidence of Malaria in the region by about 73% from 2005 to 2007
REACH Against Malaria aims to carry out a successful anti-malaria campaign by adapting effective strategies used in past successful anti-malarial campaigns in Ghana, incorporating new features derived from extensive research.
The four-point plan for the project is:
1. Targeting the Plasmodium vector i.e. the anopheles mosquito
· Spraying of indoor structures including homes
· Providing mosquito nets to at-risk communities e.g. children in orphanages,
pregnant women, children under the age of 5, etc
· Spraying ponds and other stagnant bodies with larvicides and insecticides
2. Monitoring the treatment of the sick
· Supplementing the provision of needed anti-malarial drugs for struggling health care providers in the region of focus.
- Making malaria care more accessible for patients in the region of focus by establishing local malaria treatment posts.
3. Capacity building by dissemination of information on prevention, symptoms and treatment of malaria
· Teaching locals long-term ways of protecting themselves
· Community education events
4. Monitoring progress made
· How many people get treated for malaria?
· Has incidence per month decreased?
Project Director: Awo Akosua Kesewa Aboagye
Awo studied General Science at the Wesley Girls’ High School in Ghana where she was heavily involved in the Village Outreach Group. Members of this group contributed to the community by holding Sunday school lessons for the local children. She enjoyed interacting with the children and saw first-hand the havoc that preventable diseases can wreck on children in less-privileged communities.
After Wesley Girls’, she earned the International Baccalaureate diploma from the United World College of the Atlantic in Wales, U.K., where she was a member of a group called the “Extramural Centre Service”. As a member of this group, Awo was trained to teach different outdoor sports such as canoeing, wall climbing and archery to schoolchildren, including children with different mental and developmental difficulties. Working with these children strengthened her resolve to become a paediatrician in future.
She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biology with a minor in Spanish language from Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, USA. She worked for two summers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota investigating the defective protein in a disease called Light Chain Amyloidosis and currently works as a Research Specialist investigating Alzheimer’s disease at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Awo hopes to unite her three loves: children, medicine and research as a physician-scientist in the future. She is excited about the REACH Malaria project because it is an opportunity to prevent many young children in Ghana from unnecessarily suffering from the disease. Malaria is preventable and together we can choose to make a difference through the REACH Anti-Malaria Program.
Email: awo.aboagye@reachghana.org
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2003, WHO report on the Economic Burden of Malaria in Ghana http://apps.who.int/countries/gha/publications/Economic_Burden_of_Malaria_in_Ghana_Final_Report_Nov03.pdf
2008, Netmark Malaria survey in Ghana. http://www.netmarkafrica.org/research/quantitative/2008%20HH%20Survey/Ghana%20HH%20survey%20FINAL%20updated%209-29-09.pdf
2006, Campaign at Obuasi halves malaria incidence http://www.anglogoldashanti.co.za/subwebs/InformationForInvestors/ReportToSociety06/obuasi-malaria.htm
