USAID NetWorks Ghana project  has presented school jerseys to the Ghana Education Service, to acknowledge the efforts of Ghanaian teachers and schoolchildren engaged in tackling malaria at Sege in the Damgbe District.

Two schools in each circuit will be awarded a full set of football jerseys as reward for active participation in a Drive Malaria Away for GoodLife  by USAID working with the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) and the Ghana Education Service’s (GES) School Health Education Programme (SHEP)

Speaking on the project Mr. J. K. Ofori the Chief of Party- Networks said Primary 2 and Primary 6 children are given training on Malaria prevention issues using the School-Based Long Lasting Insecticidal Nets (LLINs).

The Drama Guide and Community Drama Competition are two of such teaching aids in which teachers across the nation are given guidelines as to how to educate their pupils on Malaria and creatively share this knowledge with their communities

The programme included exciting theatre and musical performances from two of the winning schools and a 5-aside football game at the Sege Cluster Schools in Sege, Ada West District.  

The USAID NetWorks Ghana Project is a two year USAID funded project with technical assistance provided by Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication Programs (JHUCCP). The NetWorks Project has a focus of supporting the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) to provide , while implementing strategies that further increase the use of LLINs across the nation.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Malaria still kills an estimated 660,000 people worldwide, mainly children under five years of age in sub-Saharan Africa.  In 2012 over 30, 000 hospital admissions in Ghana were due to Malaria; while 10 out of every 100,000 deaths were caused by Malaria.