Malaria remains the leading cause of mortality among children, affecting about 2.4 per cent of them. As a result of that about 80,000 children in Ghana die before their fifth birthday in spite of the numerous intervention by the government and other agencies to curb the situation. The Head of Information Research and Advocacy Division (IRAD) of the Department of Children, Mr Sylvester Kyei-Gyamfi, made this known in Tamale during a regional dissemination forum on the situation of children in Ghana. He, however, indicated that although malaria remained a public health concern, mortality rate among children under five years caused by malaria had declined steadily from 3.7 per cent in 2002 to 2.4 per cent in 2007. Mr Kyei-Gyamfi noted that children's opinions were vital in decisions that affected them, stressing that it was in recognition of this that Section 11 of the Children's Act guaranteed a child's right to express an opinion. He added that youth organizations and groups existed at the community level to deal with issues relating to young people and that their opinions were fed into national consultative decision processes. "Many members of in-school children's clubs have been trained on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, leadership skills and on methods of influencing policy at local, national and international levels," he stated. Mr Kyei-Gyamfi thanked organizations such as the Danish International Development Agency, United Nations Children's Fund, International Labour Organisation, World Vision International and Save the Children for their technical and financial support in improving the wellbeing of the Ghanaian child. The Northern Regional Director of the Department of Children, Mr Sumani Nayina called for broader collaboration among all stakeholders to help improve the wellbeing of children. He lauded the government for interventions such as the Capitation Grant and the School Feeding Programme but added that there were some problems associated with these programmes that were preventing children from deriving maximum benefits from them. He said even though the government paid GH¢3 cedis per child per year in all basic schools, only about 15 per cent of that amount actually remained in the school for the benefit of the child. He said petroleum levy, cultural fees and sports fees were always deducted from the GH¢3 cedis before giving the money to the schools. On the School Feeding Programme, he said only six out of the 260 basic schools in the Tamale metropolis were benefiting from the programme and called for an increase in the number. Source: Daily Graphic