MoH to introduce malaria self-test kit (Saturday, June 5, 2010, pg 19)
The Ministry of Health is to introduce a malaria self-test kit into the country’s health care system in a move to promote the early detection of malaria cases.
The EZ-Trust kit, a potable disposable device, can be used at home to detect malaria.
At a meeting to introduce the product to the Minister of Health, Dr Benjamin Kunbour, the Managing Director of TG Medicals from South Africa, Mr Theo J. Roelofsz Jnr, indicated that the product had been evaluated and approved by laboratories world-wide including the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
He said the test kit had become necessary in order to reduce the time people spent in hospital.
“There is no need to wait for days for laboratory results anymore. With the test-kit, people will be able to perform a quick and accurate test in the comfort of their own homes, ” he said.
The company also introduced to the minister, two other products - an HIV home test- kit and a water purification tube.
Mr Roelofsz Jnr said the water purifier, known as “lifestraw,” could “purify a minimum of 700 litres of water, that is enough clean drinking water for two years and added that the water purifying device removed 99 per cent of bacteria and viruses from unclean water.
“It is light enough to carry around your neck, and with this product children will now be able to drink water almost anywhere, irrespective of the state of the water, ” Mr Roelosfz Jnr said.
He said funding organisations including the USAID were ready to make funds available for the supply of the products to Ghana at no cost to the country.
All that needed to be done was the ministry’s would endorsement.
The Minister of Health, Dr Benjamin Kunbour, said the ministry would use any innovation that would help reduce deaths that resulted from malaria and cholera.
He said the malaria test-kit would be a very useful tool for combating malaria since the early diagnosis of the disease could save many lives.
He said the ministry would look into the efficiency of the products to find out how best they could be used to address the health needs of the people.
Despite all the interventions towards reducing malaria cases, last year, a total of 3,600,000 of outpatient malaria cases were said to have been recorded throughout public hospitals in the country with 3,900 deaths.
One thousand five hundred of the deaths involved children under five years and 80 were pregnant women.
Malaria infections in Africa are said to cause 400,000 cases of severe anaemia, contributing to maternal mortality across the continent.
The Managing Director of GHANSA Investments, local representatives of TG Medicals, Prof. Albert A. Tsolu, for his part, said the life straw especially would be very useful in reducing water-borne diseases, especially among children and that the product would be very useful in the rural areas where water-borne diseases had become a problem for the country as a result of the poor condition of water available people.
The EZ-Trust kit, a potable disposable device, can be used at home to detect malaria.
At a meeting to introduce the product to the Minister of Health, Dr Benjamin Kunbour, the Managing Director of TG Medicals from South Africa, Mr Theo J. Roelofsz Jnr, indicated that the product had been evaluated and approved by laboratories world-wide including the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
He said the test kit had become necessary in order to reduce the time people spent in hospital.
“There is no need to wait for days for laboratory results anymore. With the test-kit, people will be able to perform a quick and accurate test in the comfort of their own homes, ” he said.
The company also introduced to the minister, two other products - an HIV home test- kit and a water purification tube.
Mr Roelofsz Jnr said the water purifier, known as “lifestraw,” could “purify a minimum of 700 litres of water, that is enough clean drinking water for two years and added that the water purifying device removed 99 per cent of bacteria and viruses from unclean water.
“It is light enough to carry around your neck, and with this product children will now be able to drink water almost anywhere, irrespective of the state of the water, ” Mr Roelosfz Jnr said.
He said funding organisations including the USAID were ready to make funds available for the supply of the products to Ghana at no cost to the country.
All that needed to be done was the ministry’s would endorsement.
The Minister of Health, Dr Benjamin Kunbour, said the ministry would use any innovation that would help reduce deaths that resulted from malaria and cholera.
He said the malaria test-kit would be a very useful tool for combating malaria since the early diagnosis of the disease could save many lives.
He said the ministry would look into the efficiency of the products to find out how best they could be used to address the health needs of the people.
Despite all the interventions towards reducing malaria cases, last year, a total of 3,600,000 of outpatient malaria cases were said to have been recorded throughout public hospitals in the country with 3,900 deaths.
One thousand five hundred of the deaths involved children under five years and 80 were pregnant women.
Malaria infections in Africa are said to cause 400,000 cases of severe anaemia, contributing to maternal mortality across the continent.
The Managing Director of GHANSA Investments, local representatives of TG Medicals, Prof. Albert A. Tsolu, for his part, said the life straw especially would be very useful in reducing water-borne diseases, especially among children and that the product would be very useful in the rural areas where water-borne diseases had become a problem for the country as a result of the poor condition of water available people.
Thanks for sharing the post here. Keep up the good work. All the best.
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