Dr Yaw Ofori Yeboah, the Deputy Regional Director of Public Health, GHS, disclosed this at a regional stakeholders’ interaction for the 2018 Long Lasting Insecticide Nets (LLIN) Point Mass Distribution campaign in Ho.

He said the distribution was done on pilot basis in Akatsi South and South Tongu Districts last year, which was much successful than the 2011 and 2014 campaigns, necessitating expansion of the programme to 23 more districts. Dr Yeboah said the distribution campaign, which would last for seven days, would be in two phases, starting from March 27 to 29, and the second phase from April 3 to 6, this year.

Beneficiaries would pick the nets at vantage points in the communities to protect volunteers from abuses in attempts to fix the nets in rooms for people, he said, adding that two people living in the same house with Point Mass Distribution’s code card would receive one net.

Dr Yeboah said the life span of the nets was three years but they could still be used for physical protection until new ones were distributed. He called on municipal and district assemblies to come out with bye laws to punish people who misused treated nets, saying about 28 per cent of people received the nets but used them for other purposes.

The GHS was, therefore, using social and behavioural change approaches on the negative mind-set that people had about treated nets.Mr Nelson Akorli, the Ho Municipal Chief Executive, called on the media to help educate the public on the health benefits of using treated nets.

The national launch for the campaign is scheduled for Adidome in the Volta Region on March 28, 2018.