The National Strategic Plan (NSP 2021-2025) stated that Ghana needs to raise more than USD412 million by 2025 to eradicate malaria and prevent the devastating repercussions, particularly for children and pregnant women.
The WHO predicted that close to USD10 billion will be required to implement national strategic plans for malaria eradication in 30 African nations over the next three years, according to Dr Salifu Bawa of the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital's Public Health Department.
He made the announcement at a malaria awareness lecture held in Cape Coast by the Central region branch of the Pharmaceutical Students' Federation of Ghana (PSFG).
The session was part of the Association's World Malaria Day events, which were themed "Advance Equity. Build Resilience. End Malaria." According to Dr. Bawa, worldwide financing in 2019 was $3 billion, compared to a target of $5.6 billion, resulting in serious gaps in access to proven malaria prevention technologies.
In fact, he urged all parties involved in the malaria battle to step up their efforts in order to save more lives, adding, "It is not acceptable that thousands of people, mostly children and pregnant women, continue to die needlessly of malaria."
"Malaria will certainly claim many more lives on the Continent unless governments discover inventive methods to gather appropriate resources to overcome the financial deficit," Dr Bawa said.
Malaria, he argued, was avoidable and should not kill anyone, adding that "now is not the time for nations with a high malaria burden." In 2020, Sub-Saharan Africa will continue to bear the brunt of the malaria burden, accounting for about 95% of all malaria cases and 96 percent of all fatalities.
The illness is most prevalent in Ghana's Volta and Western regions, which together account for 47.4 percent of the country's prevalence rate.
It was for this reason that Hohoe, one of the country's six malaria pre-elimination districts, was chosen to commemorate World Malaria Day this year.
This shows how, over a period of years, successful implementation of several treatments has helped to reduce the prevalence of malaria.
"Sleep under a long-lasting insecticide-treated sheet all night, test for malaria before starting treatment, and finish your malaria medication as directed," he advises.