Ghana devised a new mosquito-control method. The National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) has established sentinel stations in various areas around the country to track mosquito resistance to pesticides.
Insecticide resistance in mosquitoes has arisen not just in Ghana but also in other malaria-endemic parts of the world, according to Dr Nana Yaw Peprah, an epidemiologist with the NMCP.
New tactics, according to Dr. Peprah, have been designed to overcome the difficulty and win the malaria war.
The epidemiologist told the Daily Graphic that additional chemicals had been put to insecticide-treated nets in such regions after a recent research indicated extreme resistance to some pesticides among mosquitoes in a small cocoa-growing village.
New generational nets, according to Dr. Peprah, have also been created as part of measures to combat pesticide resistance.
He explained that in locations where indoor residual spraying was employed as a preventive strategy, the insecticide used to kill the larvae was changed to guarantee that mosquitoes did not develop resistance.
The Ghana Atomic Energy Commission’s (GAEC) Biotechnology and Nuclear Research Institute (BNARI) discovered exceptional pesticide resistance among anopheles mosquitoes in Atatam in the Adansi Asokwa District in the Ashanti Region.
According to the findings, there are two primary malaria vectors, one of which predominates during the dry season and the other during the rainy season: Although there was only one transmission season in many villages, which was generally the rainy season.
Dr. Michael Osae, the Director of BNARI, revealed this when he presented the findings to the chief and people of Atatam as part of a malaria awareness campaign.
The key findings, he told the Daily Graphic, demonstrated that the presence of significant malaria vectors all year, which were extremely resistant to all types of pesticides, was causing malaria to spread in Atatam.
That condition, he added, might be widespread, and he urged a coordinated effort to identify and target feasible vector control measures on such hotspots in order to win the malaria battle.
Dr. Osae speculated that the inhabitants of Atatam’s usage of pesticides on their cocoa crops may be to blame for the “super resistance” to insecticides, adding that, Atatam was discovered to be a malaria-endemic hamlet with a year-round mosquito infestation, according to studies.
Similar findings were made by the BNARI in the Obuasi municipality and other localities, including Dinkyeaye and Agyenkwaso in the Adansi Asokwa District, Okyereko and Adawukwa in the Gomoa East District, and Osorongma in Dodowa.
Dr. Peprah expressed concern about pesticide resistance, emphasizing that “it is difficult to discover new techniques to tackle the disease.”According to him, the mosquito’s potential to evolve resistance to pesticides was aided by their usage.
He said that some of the pesticides were utilized in agriculture, which he believes contributed to mosquito resistance.Ms Rhoda Appiah, the FDA’s Director of Communications and Public Education, said the conclusions of the research were not yet available to the agency.
The scientific community and the country, she added, would be watching to see how far the BNARI’s recommendations are implemented.
Ms Appiah also expressed pleasure with other malaria-fighting strategies in the country, such as a malaria vaccine trial program in selected regions.
Source https://www.graphic.com.gh/