Isaac Akweetey
19 June 2009
In its bid to prevent and eradicate malaria in the country, Zoomlion Ghana Limited, waste management experts, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, last Wednesday launched a Nationwide Mosquito Control Programme (NAMCOP) at Koforidua.
Speaking at the programme, the Coordinator of Zoomlion in charge of NAMCOP, Alhaji Habib Mohammed Ziblim, said the programme was the first of its kind in the history of the country, that a private company and a state institution had forged a private-public-partnership to control mosquitoes.
The programme, which was under the theme "Getting Rid of Mosquito-Getting Rid of Malaria," was colourfully attended by traditional authorities, politicians, and people from all walks of life, including Koo Ofori, of Efie Wura fame, and Lucky Mensah.
According to him, Zoomlion made its intentions clear right from its inception, to wage war against waste management and other related environmental management, in order to uphold the country's effort to fight waste.
"The activities of the company include public cleansing to domestic garbage collection, industrial waste management, beautification and landscaping, and to recycling, not exempting vector and pest control," he underscored.
He said it was based upon this performance that the Minister of Health emphasised the government's determination to pursue a major intervention, in the area of malaria prevention and control.
According to Alhaji Ziblim, the Minister of Health (MoH), Dr. George Sipa-Yankey, further stated at this year's World Malaria Day (WMD) of his outfit's readiness to liaise with the Ministry of Education, to carry out Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) in all the second cycle educational institutions.
The ZLG Co-ordinator indicated his outfit decided to seek collaboration with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the MoH and other agencies, to put its expertise at their disposal to contribute to the control of mosquitoes, in an effort to control malaria in the country.
Pointing out what Zoomlion was going to bring on board, he reiterated that it was the company's objective to control mosquitoes in a scientifically sound way, so as to prevent mosquito-transmitted diseases such as filariasis, yellow fever, viral hemorrhagic fever and malaria.
Through this strategy, he mentioned that the mosquito population and the biting nuisance that they created at homes, hotels and other places, which hamper daily outdoor activities, would be controlled.
Alhaji Ziblim continued that his outfit would clean all drains and de-silt them to prevent the collection of stagnant water, which serves as breeding grounds for mosquitoes.
Other activities include regular and frequent clearing of bushes, domestic garbage, collection and destruction of receptacles and source with potential to collect water, as well as spraying of dead water bodies.
In order to achieve this goal, he said Zoomlion had acquired 500,000 spraying machines, 300 motorbikes, 30 Nissan pickups and other related equipment, as well as insecticides for the exercise.
The programme, apart from providing jobs for 5,000 people as part of government's vision to provide employment for the people, would also improve upon the health of the people to boost the socio-economic environment.
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