Health Minister, Alex Segbefia, has lauded a UNICEF campaign to increase malaria awareness and encourage the use of bed nets.

The Behaviour Change Communication Campaign (BCC) is used in malaria control efforts to encourage diagnostic testing of fevers by both individuals and health service providers for improved treatment and surveillance of the disease.

BCC is also critical for the success of the Test, Treat and Track (T3) initiative and a vital tool for building  trust in test results, particularly when patients receive malaria-negative test results and are unsure of what to do next.

Speaking at the launch of the campaign, Alex Segbefia, said “BCC is also necessary for informing and mobilizing communities to work with IRS spray teams, to follow instructions during and after spraying and to promote ANC attendance and IPTp [intermittent preventive therapy] uptake.”

Deputy Director General of Ghana Health Service, Gloria Quansah Asare, urged corporate institutions, civil society groups and the media to support the UNICEF campaign.

“Ghana Health Service will continue to work with stakeholders and partners to carry out advocacy for increased mobilization of domestic and external funding and provide guidance regarding appropriate malaria control policies and BCC interventions,” she said.

In 2015, 10.1 million cases of OPD malaria were recorded, an increase of 20.2% over 2014 figures.

Malaria deaths, however, declined by 3.0% in 2015.