Tamale, NR; April 1, 2015 – The African Indoor Residual Spraying (AIRS) Program for malaria control has been implemented in Ghana since 2008 in selected districts in the Northern Region. It is funded by United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) and has been implemented by Abt Associates since 2012. This year, Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) will be implemented in five districts: Kumbungu, West Mamprusi, Mamprugu-Moagduri, East Mamprusi and Bunkpurugu-Yunyoo. It will begin from the 13th of April and last for a period of thirty (30) days.

As a part of preparations towards the start of the 2015 spray campaign, the PMI/USAID AIRS program together with the chiefs and people in these districts will hold a launch in Kumbungu on April 13, 2015 with the theme “Give Access, Spray Communities, Defeat Malaria” in line with the World Malaria Day theme which is “Invest in the future, defeat malaria”.

IRS is the application of long-lasting insecticides on the walls/roofs of houses to kill female Anopheles mosquitoes which cause malaria. These mosquitoes spread malaria parasites when they bite an infected person and go on to bite others. They usually rest on walls after taking a blood meal.

As a vector control strategy, IRS takes advantage of this indoor resting behavior of the mosquito, treats the walls so that when a mosquito rests on the treated surface, it picks up lethal doses of the insecticide and eventually dies.

IRS is targeted at protecting huge populations at a time with a special focus on children under five (5) years and pregnant women. This is achieved by reducing the rate of malaria infections when the vector population is reduced and since Ghana began implementing IRS with the support of PMI, large populace has enjoyed protection under the program. In 2008 by spraying five Northern Region districts (Tolon-Kumbungu, Savelugu-Nanton, West Mamprusi, Gushegu, and Karaga), approximately 601,000 people were protected. The number of beneficiary districts was steadily scaled up to nine with four new districts (East Mamprusi, Saboba, Chereponi, and Bunkpurugu-Yunyoo) by the close of 2011, increasing protection to approximately 926,699 people. In 2014, IRS was implemented in four districts namely East & West Mamprusi, Bunkprugu-Yunyoo, Savelugu Nanton with approximately 570,572 being protected.

The effectiveness of IRS as a malaria control intervention is evident in studies carried out by the Noguchi Memorial Institute supported by the PMI. These studies, started in 2010 and conducted each year, are known as the Anaemia & Parasitaemia (A&P) Study. It is conducted in the Bunkpurugu-Yunyoo District. At the beginning of the study in 2010, the following parameters were very high: Reported Fever (64.4), Severe Anaemia (7%), RDT Positivity Rate (69.9%) and Asexual Parasitaemia (52.4%). By 2014, these parameters have almost been halved with Reported Fever being (26.4), Severe Anaemia (2.1%), RDT Positivity Rate (29.1%) and Asexual Parasitaemia (22.2%).

IRS is an effective strategy. Its effectiveness requires accessing structures which need to be sprayed and this can be achieved through collaboration by all stakeholders. A greater call is being made now for more active participation by community leadership and other stakeholders to help protect their communities.