Ghana is set to launch an End Malaria Council to mobilise domestic and private sector funding towards the elimination of malaria, following a significant reduction in malaria deaths in the country.

The initiative forms part of the country’s strategies to sustain progress towards malaria elimination.

The Director of Public Health, Dr Franklin Asiedu-Bekoe, announced this during the commemoration of World Malaria Day in Accra on Saturday, held under the theme, “Driven to End Malaria: Now We Can. Now We Must.”

Dr Asiedu-Bekoe explained that the council would establish a structured and transparent financing mechanism to bring together domestic resource mobilisation, corporate contributions, parliamentary appropriations, philanthropic investments, and other innovative funding streams into a coordinated national programme.

He indicated that the council would serve as a platform for the private sector to partner with government in sustaining Ghana’s malaria elimination agenda.

Dr Asiedu-Bekoe further noted that removing financial barriers at the primary healthcare level would prevent delays in seeking treatment for fever, thereby ensuring early detection, faster case management, and improved surveillance to help break malaria transmission.

He observed that Ghana had made remarkable progress, with national malaria prevalence declining from 27.5 per cent in 2011 to 8.6 per cent in 2022.

Malaria deaths, he said, had dropped sharply from 3,259 in 2021 to 52 in 2025, representing a 98 per cent reduction, while child fatalities had reduced by 76 per cent within three years.

The Greater Accra Regional Health Director, Dr Robert Amesiya, called on households to take responsibility for environmental sanitation and urged traditional and religious leaders to use their influence to promote malaria prevention.

He also urged healthcare workers to maintain high standards in treatment, stressing that patients must be tested before treatment. He further called on Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies to strictly enforce sanitation by-laws.

The World Health Organisation Country Representative, Dr Fiona Braka, expressed concern that malaria continued to claim thousands of lives across Africa, particularly among children.

She stated that several African countries, including Ghana, were showing renewed commitment to fighting the disease through strong leadership and innovative approaches.

Dr Braka noted that in 2024, nearly 95 per cent of the 600,000 global malaria deaths occurred in Africa, with about three-quarters involving young children.

She added that although malaria elimination was achievable through stronger political commitment, improved data systems, community engagement, and better tools, challenges such as insecticide resistance, emerging drug resistance, climate variability, and funding gaps continued to threaten progress.