ECOWAS to site multi-million dollar biolarvicide factories in Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria
Ghana, Ivory Coast and Nigeria will benefit from the construction of factories to produce biolarvicides in malaria elimination, regional bloc ECOWAS has announced.
A ground breaking ceremony for the construction of the three factories to produce the biolarvicides under the regional Malaria Elimination Campaign Programme took place in Abidjan February 28, 2013 at the just-ended 42nd ECOWAS Summit.
“The three West African biolarvicide factories are to be located in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Nigeria’s Rivers State, with technical assistance of Cuba and the financial support of the government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, under a tripartite agreement between the two countries and ECOWAS for the elimination of malaria in West Africa, ECOWAS said in a communiqué.
The tripartite agreement was signed in 2009 and it is focused on the strengthening the vector control component of the region’s multi-sectoral malaria control strategy.
ECOWAS says the World Health Organizations (WHO) recognizes vector control which encompasses biolarviciding as one of the major effective strategies for malaria elimination.
Official statistics show that in Africa, malaria has killed more people than all the wars in the continent combined with a child dying every 30 seconds from the scourge.
According to ECOWAS, malaria accounts for around 40% of public health expenditure in endemic countries, and costs Africa some $12 billion in lost productivity.
President of the ECOWAS Commission, Kadré Désiré Ouedraogo said the ground-breaking ceremony demonstrated the determination of regional leaders to win the war against malaria through the vector control programme.
By Ekow Quandzie