Foundation Launches Artemisia Anti-Malaria Herbal Plant
By David Alan Painstil & Magdalene Sey
Baobab Youth Training Center, a German non-governmental organization (NGO), based in Kissi in the Central Region, has out-doored Artemisia, an anti-malaria herbal plant, at Kissi to treat malaria in the region.
Last year, the center, which trains orphans and youth in and around Kissi in craft making, launched the Moringa plant, which is also used for the treatment of malaria.
Speaking at the function, the Managing Director of the Center, Madam Edith De-Vos, a German, noted that the plant was introduced in Ghana by Anamed International, a herbal plant organization in Germany.
She said the Artemisia plant is used for the manufacture of Artesunate. The medicine clears one’s blood system of malaria parasites.
She added that about 50 participants across the country were undergoing a six-day training course, with regard to the preparation of the herb for the treatment of malaria.
De-Vos disclosed that the training centre was specializing in afforestation, fight against bushfire, organic farming and natural medicines, to protect the natural habitat for the preservation of medicinal plants.
The District Chief Executive (DCE) of Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA) District, Mr. Frank Asmah, appealed to Ghanaians to adopt a positive attitude towards waste disposal, and environmental cleanliness, in order to prevent the outbreak of malaria.
He lamented that in spite of government efforts at ensuring that lagoons in the region were dredged, to rid them of filth, people still disposed off refuse in them, posing environmental hazards to nearby residents.
Asmah appealed to fishermen to utilize public toilets, at the various beaches, and desist from easing at the beaches.
The Central Regional Coordinator for Malaria Control, Mr. Moses B. Asante, disclosed that malaria was one of the top 10 diseases recorded in the region last year.
He said malaria cases recorded last year, dropped from 384,143 to 371,263 representing a 3.4% decline.
Mr. Asante said the region recorded 278 deaths in 2006, while 261 deaths were recorded last year.
He however hinted that an educational programme, dubbed “home-based care,” was being organized in some communities in the region, to sensitize them on the prevention of malaria.
Asante commended the Baobab Foundation for its efforts at preventing malaria in the KEEA district, in particular, and the Central Region as a whole, and pledged that his outfit would assist them with the needed logistics, to rid the region of malaria and other diseases.
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