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The Herald, December 9. 2021
GOVERNEMNT has disbursed $9 billion to all the country’s provinces for spraying programmes and distributed 400 000 bed net re-treatment kits as part of preparations for this year’s malaria season.
The months between November and April usually record high malaria cases owing to the wet conditions, which encourage the breeding of malaria causing mosquitoes.
Addressing a Press briefing of the Sadc Malaria Week, which runs from December 5 to 9, on Tuesday, Secretary for Health and Child Welfare Dr Edward Mabiza, said malaria drugs had since been sent to all the provinces.
In addition, at least about 3 000 community health workers who would provide primary care in remote areas have so far been trained.
“My ministry has already made preparations for the malaria season in a number of interventions areas.
“To ensure that communities access treatment within 24 hours, community health workers have also been trained in case management,” said Dr Mabiza.
He said indoor residual spraying was on-going in 41 districts across the country while dichloro diphenyl trichloroethane (DDT) was being used in seven districts, among them Kariba, Mudzi, Chipinge, Chiredzi, Beitbridge, Binga and Lupane, which were the most affected.
Programmes to educate and mobilise communities on the need to seek treatment within 24 hours of developing malaria symptoms had been run before the onset of the rains and were continuing, he said.
The ministry was expected to launch the Sadc Malaria Week at Trade Clinic in Binga District yesterday where 1 500 local and international delegates, among them Sadc health ministers, were expected to attend.
The year’s theme is “Treated Nets and Spraying Houses Prevent Malaria” and runs under the slogan “Protect your family from Malaria”.
Sadc health ministers set the second week of November as the week to commemorate malaria week at the Sadc ministers’ conference in 2000 as a way of raising public awareness on thecontrol and prevention of the disease which kills an estimated 300 000 people in the region every year.
About 1 200 people die of malaria in Zimbabwe out of about three million cases recorded every year.
As part of fund raising and raising awareness in both public and private sectors by the ministry, a musical gala that was expected to be attended by South African music luminary and United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) goodwill ambassador Yvone Chaka Chaka was to be held in Victoria Falls yesterday.
Sadc ministers, multilateral organisations, health ministry partners in malaria control and prevention and the business community were also expected to attend the gala.
Speaking at the briefing, WHO country representative Dr Everisto Njelesani hailed Zimbabwe’s intervention programmes as being effective and urged other countries in the region to adopt some of them. “We have the means to prevent and treat the disease so we should not let people die.”
LESSONS FOR TODAY
Malaria is a serious and sometimes fatal disease caused by a parasites that commonly infect a certain type of mosquito which feeds on humans.
The goal of most current National Malaria Control Programmes and most malaria activities is to reduce the number of malaria-related cases and deaths.
The goal is also to reduce malaria transmission to a level where it is no longer a public health problem.
Improved diagnostics are needed to monitor and measure changes in infection rates and assure the quality of medicines and insecticides.
According to experts, a variety of other non-insecticidal intervention methods are under development and these include novel genetic approaches and inheritable bacterial endosymbionts.
Online Reporter