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Filbert Ruwende Chronicle Reporter
SADC has launched a malaria prevention awareness campaign in its member states.
The campaign that was launched in Malawi on April 14 will see a convoy made up of officials from the health sector, military and police drawn from all member states touring almost all the countries in the region.
Speaking in Bulawayo last week, the Sadc regional coordinator for health services Colonel Kaka Mundambo said the convoy had already toured three member states.
“We launched the campaign in Malawi on April 14. On April 15 we were in Mozambique, then we were in Harare where we met the deputy minister of health. We are heading to Victoria Falls with the hope to cover Zambia then cross to Botswana then Namibia and our final destination will be Angola on April 25 which is World Malaria Day,” said Mundambo.
Mundambo said all the countries in the region contributed in providing the resources for the campaign and the main motive was to educate the people on awareness and prevention of the disease.
“As a region we found that malaria is transmitted regionally through illegal and legal border crossings. We decided to educate the entire region on how to prevent malaria. This will see member states educating their citizens on measures to prevent malaria” he said.
The National Malaria Control Manager for Zimbabwe, Dr Joseph Mberikunashe said the “Race Against Malaria” campaign used strategies to prevent malaria instead of dealing with the cure.
“We want to teach people to cut long grass, use nets and spray areas that contain dumps so that the malaria larvae do not spread. We want the larvae to be eradicated so that there is zero prevalence of malaria throughout the region”.
He said all the member states should invest in strategies to defeat the disease.
He also said the main target for this programme was to achieve zero tolerance to the disease especially in high transmission areas.
Online Reporter