Medical officer says mosquito treated nets are safe
Doctor Atsu Dodor, Deputy Director in charge of Clinical Care of the Ghana Health Service in the Western Region, on Friday dispelled the notion that insecticide mosquito nets are injurious to the human body.
He noted that though minor health complications such as skin itching, sneezing and eyesores could occur, the toxic level of the chemical in the nets was only efficacious in killing the deadly insects.
Dr. Dodor at a press briefing in Takoradi on Friday announced that Malaria and the Long Lasting Insecticide Treated Nets registration exercise would be carried out from August 22 to September 10 this year at Takoradi.
He appealed to the Media to help educate the public on the need to sleep under the nets, dispel misconceptions and allow volunteers to enter their rooms for the hanging of the nets.
Dr. Dodor advised that the nets should be exposed to air for 48 hours before usage.
He stressed that the nets were safe and that “The amount of insecticide used to treat a net is so little that it cannot harm people sleeping under the nets, including babies”.
Dr Dodor said that community volunteers would move from House-to-house to hang the nets as against individual hanging them, which had not yielded much results.
He said that “Although treated nets possession among the Ghanaian population is high, it cannot be said of its usage since malaria prevalent rate is still high.”
Dr. Dodor noted that malaria was still the leading cause of deaths, abortions and stillbirths among pregnant women.
He said in Ghana, malaria kills more children than any other disease and asked users of the nets to improve ventilation in their homes by rearranging furniture and opening windows at night.
Source: GNA