Legislators call for malaria research, close monitoring

Legislators have dismissed reports that budget constraints impede the fight against malaria in the country, citing laxity in implementation of prevention programmes as the major cause. Members of the Rwanda Parliamentarians’ Network on Population and Development (RPRPD) made the remarks while evaluating health and education sector issues, last week. Senator Gallican Niyongana, the head of the network, said recent reports of malaria increase can be contained if everybody plays their role in the prevention. He called on government line institutions to find out whether malaria drugs in use today are still relevant and effective. “Malaria prevention is everybody’s responsibility, there is a need for line institutions to consider policy-related measures because it is not budget related issues, rather laxity of some people who thought we had contained the disease,” he said. “Prevention requires regular follow-ups on mechanisms in place, making sure that distributed mosquito nets reach intended beneficiaries because there were cases where we heard that some people use them for other activities, including fishing.” The government allocated Rwf2.4 billion this financial year toward the prevention of malaria and other parasitic diseases, on top of donor funds channelled through Rwanda Biomedical Centre. Last month’s National Dialogue Council, among other resolutions, tasked the Ministry of Health to step up malaria prevention measures across all districts. Speaking during the dialogue, Health minister Agnes Binagwaho attributed the rise in malaria cases to insufficient supply of treated and Long Lasting Insecticidal Nets (LLINs), despite previous reports about imported substandard nets that left government counting losses. Senator Niyongana also called on government to carry out extensive research on whether the disease resistance is due to ineffective medicines. “Treatment and medicines that treated malaria five years ago, might not be effective today, that is why we need to find out, whether we can’t change the drug type,” he said. “Also, citizens need to understand the importance of living in a clean and conducive environment, which is one way of fighting infectious mosquitoes, but as parliamentarians we won’t fold hands on this, our advocacy will continue.” WHO report In September last year, a World Health Organisation report indicated a decline in the disease across the world despite growing concerns of the steady return of the disease in some parts of the globe. The report, “Achieving the malaria MDG target,” said there was steady decline of the killer disease, that plunged down by 60 per cent since 2000 across the world. According to the report, a number of countries had even registered zero case of the disease with some countries in Asia having managed to eliminate it completely, translating into 6.2 million lives saved, the majority of them children. According to the report in 2000, it was estimated that 86 per cent of malaria deaths occurred in children aged under 5 years and that the disease accounted for 12 percent of all deaths in children aged 1–59 months globally and 22 per cent with sub-Saharan Africa being the most prone. Statistics from the Ministry of Health show a slight decline in malaria admission at the hospitals that plummeted from 8.5 percent to 8.1 per cent, according to latest Rwanda Demographic Health Survey. With regards to mosquito nets and indoor residual sprayings, current progress has seen at least 1.5 million insecticide-treated bed nets distributed to replace substandard ones, especially in districts with high malaria burden. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Legislators call for malaria research, close monitoring