Help Govt to Fight Malaria

04-08-2009

THE Minister of Health, Dr George Sipa Yankey, has challenged Ghanaian scientists to support the government’s efforts at eradicating malaria to save the country $760 million spent on the disease annually.
He also urged them to desist from making discouraging remarks about the ministry’s efforts to fight disease since eradicating malaria was possible and achievable.
The health minister was speaking at the opening of the 10th Commonwealth Pharmacists Association Conference and the 74th Annual General Meeting of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana (PSGH) in Accra yesterday.
The programme was on the theme; “Managing Threats and Crises: The Role of the Pharmacists in the Unstable World”.
Dr Yankey said as the ministry provided the needed leadership, he expected members of the team to effectively play their respective roles in tackling the disease head-on.
“This is the time for us to wage a decisive war on malaria....I will use this platform to request for your maximum support in this endeavour,” the health minister said.
He said very soon the health sector would embark on an ambitious programme to tackle the menace of malaria in Ghana, adding that since April, he had embarked on series of interactions with his colleague ministers in some West African countries, notably Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Togo and Mali to enable them to fight the disease together.
Addressing the pharmacists, Dr Yankey said the ministry was aware that between 20 and 30 percent of the population used pharmacies as the first option when they were sick, adding that every patient they served was a potential source of data which made drug outlets valuable sources of information.
Dr Yankey gave the assurance that the government would provide the needed resources to further develop the pharmaceutical industry in Ghana.
Touching on provision of quality health care to the public, the President of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP), Dr Kamal Midha, said pharmacists had a significant role to play in health care delivery and called on the members of the PSGH to make available quality services to patients.
He said there was also the need for pharmacists to ensure the availability of good quality medicines at affordable prices at all levels.
Dr Midha said as the world was confronted with counterfeit medicines, pharmacists should be involved in the procurement and distribution of medicines to check the negative trend.
In his welcoming address, the President of the PSGH, Dr Alex Dodoo, noted that Ghana had a young but growing and active local manufacturing industry with nearly 30 companies at various levels of capacity, adding that the society was committed to working with those companies to make them competitive, as well as help them to be among the best in the world.
As part of the programme, some members of the society, as well as others from other international societies were honoured by the PSGH for distinguishing themselves.