Ghana can win the war against malaria if key strategies and interventions geared towards fighting the disease are implemented, Dr Alexis Nangbeifubah, Upper West Regional Director of Health Services has said. Addressing the Anglo Gold Ashanti (AGA) malaria control review workshop at Wa in the Upper West Region on Friday, he observed that throughout the world, no disease had been eliminated by using a Single strategy but rather through integrated approaches. Referring to the Republic of Israel, which has eradicated malaria, he said, Ghanaians need to be committed in the battle against malaria. The disease is the leading cause of attendance at hospitals and clinics, morbidity and death of children under five years in the country. “If you want to control malaria, our environment should not encourage mosquito breeding,” he stated. The workshop, attended by chiefs drawn from operational districts of the programme, namely Wa Municipal; Wa East and Wa West districts, reviewed the first six months of the programme’s “Indoor Residual Spraying” (IRS) in order to correct all lapses and resolve the challenges. The AGA malaria eradication programme was launched in Obuasi in 2005 and it led to massive reduction in malaria cases among workers of the company from 6000 a month in that year to about 40 cases in June this year. The continued access of the programme prompted the Ministry of Health in collaboration with AGA and with the support of Global Fund, the programme is being extended to other parts of the country. Mr. John Owusu, General Manager incharge of Public Affairs of the AGA, said since the inception of the programme, malaria Cases in Obuasi and its environs had decreased by 75 percent. He said AGA spent a total of about $9million in its control programmes in the Obuasi area alone before Global Fund came in with additional support of about $130 million for the countrywide programme which would last for five years. Mr. Sylvester Segbaya, acting Director of the AGA Malaria programme, said seven more districts in the region namely, Jirapa, Lawra, Lambussie, Sissala West, Nadowli, Bussie, Daffiama, Issa and Nandom would be rolled into the IRS programme this month. He said; the gradual scale-up of the IRS would take place in Sissala East District and other areas in the Western and the Upper East regions next year. He said all the personnel undertaking the spraying were being recruited from the beneficiary districts while the insecticides were selected after a scientific study of their impact on the communities.