25 April was World Malaria Day, which is typically marked in UHAS with a gathering of infectious disease experts and other stakeholders, who interact and share up-to-date knowledge on the fight to eliminate the disease. This tradition was adjusted this year for safety reasons, as normal academic activities have all but ground to a halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, about 80 participants convened on 28 April via Zoom for a webinar to talk about “Focusing on zero malaria in the context of COVID-19.”
Professor Evelyn Ansah, Clinical Epidemiologist and Director of the Centre for Malaria Research at UHAS, who moderated the virtual event, told participants that the emergence of COVID-19 poses new challenges in the fight to eliminate malaria, and is likely to wipe out the gains made in the fight against malaria. She said, general service provisions covering diagnosis and treatment of malaria —delivery of core malaria interventions such as ITNs and IRS to control the mosquito vector; Intermittent Presumptive Treatment of malaria among pregnant women (IPTp), and Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (SMC) among children less than five years old — may all be affected with the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic. She therefore called on participants to “sustain efforts to prevent, detect and treat malaria using best practices,” notwithstanding efforts to manage the COVID-19 pandemic, as this would give affected populations a better chance of fighting the coronavirus disease, should they become infected.
Pro-Vice Chancellor Professor Seth Owusu-Agyei, who is also a professor of Infectious Diseases and a former director of Kintampo Health Research Center, spoke on “Key issues related to diagnosis and treatment of malaria in the context of COVID-19.” The Pro-VC has led several malaria studies that informed health policy, and was key to malaria vaccine work in Ghana. While acknowledging that Ghana has made significant strides in the fight against malaria, he said the indicators have stagnated in recent years, and we therefore require new approaches to handling the disease. Furthermore, because malaria presents with similar symptoms as COVID-19, managing fever may become more challenging because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He also expressed concern about how the nation would tackle the expected increase in malaria cases of malaria during its peak in the rainy season while grappling with COVID-19. He encouraged people to test and seek appropriate treatment for malaria early.
Professor Fred Binka, Professor of Clinical Epidemiology and Founding Vice Chancellor of UHAS, spoke on “COVID-19, malaria and the health system.” The former VC has led several malaria studies that had an impact on policy in Ghana and he was the coordinator of the WHO Emergency Response to Artemisinin Resistance (ERAR) in the Greater Mekong sub-region of Asia. He emphasized the need for healthcare leadership in the fight against malaria and coronavirus disease by actively aligning malaria elimination with broader health and development goals. He also called for strengthening the capacity of management, especially middle management and team leaders on the frontline, to implement more data-driven programmes.
