Dr Mark Nawaane, the Chairman of the Health Committee of Parliament, said Ghana has made significant strides in fighting malaria over the last few years but resourcing the Malaria Control Programme will help eradicate the disease.
“We are making headway. I think last year on record we have less than 300 deaths from malaria,” he said. “I’m saying that we can do far better than what we are doing now if only we can provide more resources to the Malaria Control Programme to continue with the activities.”
Dr Nawaane told the Ghana News Agency on the sidelines of the official launch of the Coalition of Parliamentarians to End Malaria in Africa (COPEMA), in Accra on Monday.
The two-day Regional Strategic Meeting, which commenced on Monday, sought to strengthen continental partnerships between policymakers and malaria control programmes with parliamentarians at the centre of advocacy efforts.
COPEMA envisions an Africa free from malaria, positioning parliamentarians as agents of change who can leverage their influence to support elimination efforts.
The founding members of the coalition hail from some of the most malaria-endemic countries on the continent, including Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana, Niger, Mali, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Burkina Faso, Tanzania, Mozambique, and Senegal.
Dr Nawaane, while hailing the initiative, epahasised the importance of parliamentarians in sustaining funding for malaria control programmes, indicating that with lawmakers controlling national budgets they had the power to increase funding to fill the gaps left by departing international donors.
“As the external donors are going out, we must be able to organise domestic resources to fight malaria, and who else can you recruit than the parliamentarians who approve the budgets of nation states?” he asked.
Dr Nawaane, however, noted that previous efforts through Ghana’s Malaria Caucus had been unstable because of high legislative turnover during elections, which had hampered continuity in parliamentary anti-malaria initiatives.
“Almost every election we lose about 80 per cent of our membership, so the caucus is not well organised,” he explained. “COPEMA will help us once again to organise our front in the fight against malaria.”
The launch comes at a critical time when global efforts are being made to prevent approximately 1.8 million malaria deaths worldwide in 2025.
Ghana has made progress in malaria control with fewer than 300 recorded deaths last year.
Dr Nawaane noted the significant regional disparities in disease prevalence with Upper West Region showing encouraging reductions compared to higher rates in the forest zones of the Western Region.
He called for “sensitising parliamentarians to join civil society, research organisations, and NGOs” in comprehensive malaria elimination strategies that combine vector control, improved hospital treatments, and anticipated vaccine rollouts.
“Today’s programme is centered on sensitising parliamentarians to join in the fight against malaria,” Dr Nawaane emphasised, highlighting COPEMA’s role in educating legislators about their responsibilities in disease control.
The coalition’s formation represents a strategic shift toward sustainable domestic financing for malaria programmes while strengthening political commitment to health sector improvements across Africa.
GNA
