By Agence France-Presse Bismark Owusu moves food and bowls from a bedroom and covers clothes and furniture with a large sheet before mixing a mosquito-killing chemical with water in his spray pack. Ghana is the first country on the continent to introduce the large-scale use of a new "third generation insecticide" against mosquitoes, which have developed a resistance to other chemicals. (AFP photo) He then puts on head-to-toe safety gear, straps the pack to his back and methodically sprays the walls, windows and corners of the room. Owusu's visit to Domeabra, a small community in the Obuasi area of the Ashanti region in central Ghana, is his latest stop in the country's fight against malaria. The death of two of his friends from the disease spurs him on. "Why wouldn't I help if others are dying? I am here today helping to eradicate this deadly malaria," he told AFP. Malaria, which is spread to people through the bites of infected female mosquitoes, is one of the world's deadliest diseases. According to the World Health Organization, there were 216 million cases of malaria in 91 countries across the world in 2016 and 445,000 deaths. Most of those cases and deaths -- about 90 percent -- were in sub-Saharan Africa. In Ghana, which is home to some 28 million people, there were 4.8 million cases and 599 deaths last year, a marked drop from the 2,200 who died in 2011. But with global concern that the fight against malaria has reached a plateau, African governments and development agencies are looking at new ways to step up the fight. That includes preventative measures such as distribution of insecticide-treated mosquito nets and developing a vaccine against the disease but also indoor spraying. Ghana is the first on the continent to introduce the large-scale use of a new "third generation insecticide" against mosquitoes, which have developed a resistance to other chemicals.