First Lady of the Republic, Mrs. Rebecca Akufo-Addo, has appealed to international advocates and stakeholders in the prevention of malaria in pregnancy to scale up their efforts aimed at using Intermittent Preventive Treatment (IPT) to protect pregnant women and their unborn babies from the harmful effects of malaria during the period of pregnancy.
Mrs. Akufo-Addo made the call when she addressed attendees of one of several events organized by Devet at the Neuehouse, Madison Square, New York, on the sidelines of the 78th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) under the theme; “Protecting Pregnant Women against Malaria: Speeding up Uptake to IPTp in affected African countries”.
The event which was sponsored and convened by RBM Partnership To End Malaria essentially, invited African First Ladies to provide leadership to the continuation of the campaign and join as champions, the effort to scale up access and uptake of antenatal care services and IPTp on the African continent.
“Our (Africa’s) pregnant women must receive Intermittent Preventive Treatment once a month or at least 3 times, during pregnancy. We must also ensure that they sleep under a treated bed net in addition to effective case management of malaria when necessary.
“This can help save the lives of pregnant women and their unborn children. But we must make sure SP is readily available at health facilities. We must ensure an efficient and expanded supply chain system for SP distribution and access, ” Mrs Akufo-Addo said.
“I want to affirm to this meeting that the Infanta Malaria Prevention Foundation will continue to support the malaria program in Ghana. We will continue to educate, create awareness, conduct medical outreaches, provide insecticide-treated nets, and construct more primary health facilities known in Ghana as CHPS compounds.
“We firmly believe that women should be able to access every support to save their lives and that of their unborn children. I call on every stakeholder here to join in the work of upscaling the use of “Intermittent Preventive Treatment” to protect pregnant women and their unborn children from the devastating effects of malaria in pregnancy” the First Lady added.
Present at the event was the First Lady of Liberia, Clar Weah. In her solidarity remarks, she noted that she has very much been inspired by the efforts of First Lady Rebecca Akufo-Addo in Ghana aimed at preventing malaria in pregnant women and Ghana as a whole.
Mrs. Weah stated that together with her husband, President George Weah, they have picked up the Ghanaian model, and they are implementing the latter to save the lives of pregnant Liberian women and their unborn babies.
Globally, 1 in 3 pregnant women suffer from malaria in moderate to high transmission countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Malaria in pregnancy, or MiP, is a leading cause of maternal anemia and malaria in the fetus.
It is also responsible for approximately 10,000 maternal deaths and 100,000 newborn deaths yearly. Intermittent preventive treatment, or IPTp, started as early as possible in the second trimester and taken once each month at least three times during pregnancy, can save the lives of both expectant mothers and their unborn children from malaria, together with sleeping under a bed net and effective treatment of malaria.
In 2022, as part of efforts to increase access to IPTp for pregnant women, malaria in the pregnancy working group of the RBM Partnership to End Malaria initiated the “Speed Up Scale Up IPTP campaign”.
Over 1,000 people signed a letter under the umbrella of the campaign from some 300 organizations in 43 countries in Africa, calling on decision-makers to support access to all eligible pregnant women with the malaria preventive treatment they need.
A book with the signatures was handed over to the African Leaders Malaria Alliance at a media briefing and malaria awards ceremony at the 2023 African Union Summit.
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