She said it was disheartening to see people use insecticide treated nets purposely meant for the protection of beneficiaries against mosquito bites, to cover rubbish, fences, gardens and also fishing activities.

Speaking in an interview with the media in Kumasi, she said her outfit was exploring the possibilities of working with local authorities to restrain people from misusing the treated nets.

Dr. Malm who was in the Ashanti Region to monitor household registration of residents ahead of distribution of insecticide treated nets in all the 43 districts, expressed satisfaction with the exercise.

The exercise which ended on February 12 was to collect data to determine the number of nets to be sent to each district for distribution.

She said about 90 per cent of the targeted number of people had been registered.

She said unlike the registration exercise where trained registration assistants went round to register households, this time round collection points in communities would be set up for the distribution which would last for seven days.

Dr Malm said the distribution would take place between February 28 and March 6 and urged all who are registered to go to the collection points near them to collect their nets.

“We encourage that when you get your nets hang them out for 48 hours not in the sun but shady area and use them for protection from malaria, especially as the rainy season approaches,” she appealed.

On Ghana’s fight against malaria, Dr. Malm said, the country had made a lot of progress over the years, especially improvement in the mortality rate, saying that death from malaria had gone down, as well as admissions.

She said however there was a high number of malaria cases that were recorded at the Out-Patient Departments (OPDs) and treated.