Ghana and Cuba have agreed to a joint venture to build a malaria insecticide plant in the West African country that will target the larval life stage of mosquitoes.
According to a report by the state-owned Daily Graphic on Saturday, the plant is expected to be established at Savelugu in the Northern Region of Ghana with the view to combating malaria and possible eradication of the menace.
The agreement was brokered in Havana, Cuba by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo who is on a weeklong working visit in the US and the Caribbean.
A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between Labiofam S.A of Cuba to set up the plant through a joint venture arrangement to produce the bio-larvicide which is said be an effective method of controlling the growth and development of mosquitoes which cause malaria.
The paper reported that President Nana Addo entered into the agreement when he was taking round the factory on Thursday.
He said Ghana spend huge resources in fighting malaria therefore he was determined to see the project becomes reality.
Malaria cases account for over 70 percent of Out Patients Department (OPD) cases in Ghana which is a very worrying situation with successive governments trying to find an antidote to it.
He was further quoted as saying the construction of the factory would be a befitting testimony of the 60 years of relations between Ghana and Cuba.
“Our relations with this country have been very good right from the beginning and we have to always remember that Ghana was the first African country to recognize the Cuban Revolution”, Nana Addo was quoted as saying.
Additionally, President Nana Addo said an agreement was reached with the Stella S.A. Chocolate factory in Cuba to import cocoa liquor from Ghana to the factory as way of boosting his country’s cocoa industry.
DAP/as/APA