The Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Mrs. Gladys Norley Ashitey has revealed that the fight against malaria was very crucial to national development.

According to her, the fight against the disease stands between the country's prospects and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

She said the devastating effects of the disease weighs a lot on the country human resource base, adding that approximately 3million cases of the disease are registered in public healthcare facilities annually while about 13% of all recorded deaths in the country are attributed to the disease.

Mrs. Ashitey made this known at the Ghana malaria advocacy launch in Accra yesterday.

Health professionals, traditional authorities and school children attended the event.

Mrs. Ashitey noted that pregnant women and children are the most vulnerable to the disease with about 61% of them being children under- five years and 8% of pregnant women always on admission in various health centres.

She however revealed that, 18 % of deaths recorded in children under- five years was caused by malaria whilst 9% occur in maternal deaths.

According to her, the fight against malaria required mobilising all areas of public policy to facilitate and appropriate decision making towards the achievement of a malaria free Ghana.

She thus stressed the need to increase awareness of malaria and its impact on the country's socio economic stability through advocacy and ensure the availability of necessary resources and commodities to fight the disease.

Touching on the District Assemblies Common fund, the Deputy Minister of Health underscored that an Act of Parliament, Act 445 of 1993 demanded the use of the1% for malaria control initiatives by the districts.

Mrs. Ashitey said government has put in place a number of policies to ensure the implementation of malaria control programs and activities across the country, including the National Drug policy, the integrated malaria Vector control policy and the malaria in pregnancy policy.

She thus entreated malaria advocates to be abreast with the policies to be able to facilitate effective implementation 's willingness in eradicating the disease and increase funding and other resources in public and private sector at both national and international levels.

Speaking on behalf of the Media Malaria Network, Ms. Rosemary Ardayfio noted that in recognition of the significant role the media play in promoting advocacy for malaria, a strong network has been formed to channel this course.

She said journalists drawn from the print and electronic media form the basis of the network with an objective to disseminate appropriate information on the malaria control efforts with the view to promote the use of insecticide treated net and motivating health professionals to administer approved medications for the management of malaria.

Ms. Ardayfio said the network would ensure that the Ghanaian population will uphold the need to practice effective prevention measures; monitor accurately report on the ongoing malaria control interventions within the context of educating the people of Ghana to maintain clear focus on making their communities malaria.

She however noted that the refusal of health professionals and experts to provide relevant and useful information and the difficulties in getting to the source of information because of bureaucratic bottlenecks was hampering the work of health journalists.

She said the use of highly technical and scientific language by health experts and professionals do not help the press in giving reliable information on the current state of the disease.

Miss Ardayfio pledged the willingness of the network to maintain a close collaboration with National Malaria Control Programme, the Disease Control Unit of the Ghana Health service and all stake holders to ensure proper dissemination of relevant information that can contribute to the effective implementation of the new malaria drug policy, the Integrated malaria vector control policy and the malaria in pregnancy policy.