Malaria can be a very serious disease.
- Malaria kills more children than any other disease in Ghana. Malaria is a leading cause of miscarriage and stillbirths in pregnant women.
- During 2009, a person in Ghana died from malaria about every 3 hours.
This means about 3000 people died of malaria in Ghana that year alone, most of them children. - Severe malaria is also a major cause of permanent brain damage and physical disability.
One of the disorders severe malaria can cause is epilepsy, a permanent brain disorder that causes convulsions, memory loss and loss of consciousness.
While not all cases of epilepsy are caused by severe malaria, many are in countries with a heavy malaria burden, such as Ghana.
- A simple case of malaria can quickly turn into severe malaria, particularly among very young children, if not treated quickly (within 24 hours) and completely with the recommended malaria medicines.
- Malaria can make anyone very sick, but children and pregnant women are most severely affected.
Mosquitoes cause malaria.
- The type of mosquitoes with the malaria parasite bite at night. [They are called anopheles]. Over 90% of the malaria transmission in Ghana is caused by the anopheles mosquito.
- Mosquitoes that have malaria don’t care where you sleep, who you sleep with, or what you do on your bed.
- Every night, they will bite you more times than you can count if you let them. So imagine what damage they can do whilst you are asleep.
- The more times you get bitten, the more likely you will get malaria. But, it only takes one mosquito bite to catch malaria.
TREATED NETS are the best way to prevent malaria.
- The good news is that malaria is preventable by sleeping under a TREATED NET (LLIN)* every night.
- LLIN stands for Long Lasting Insecticide Treated Net
- Treated nets give double protection: they prevent the mosquito from landing on you and the insecticide in it repels or kills the mosquitoes when they land on the net.
- The insecticide in the net is safe. [The Ministry of Health in Ghana and the World Health Organization have approved it.] It is made especially to kill mosquitoes and other insects. The insecticide has no effects on humans. And it does not affect a man’s or a woman’s fertility.
- There are times when you might see fewer mosquitoes around (like the dry season), but the mosquitoes with malaria never disappear completely. It is important to still use the nets even at these times.
Now it is up to each of us to always sleep under a treated net, and protect ourselves from malaria.
After all, without good health you can not enjoy your Good Life. Let’s all come together and drive malaria away for Good Life.
