Malaria Day: Call for effective policies to end the tropical disease

Eliminating malaria requires sustained and robust financial investment as well as having national programmes that are backed by effective policies, Dr Juliet Bataringaya, the World Health Organisation representative has said. Bataringaya was speaking during belated World Malaria Day event in Huye District on Wednesday. The day, conducted at the community level, was marked by different activities on malaria prevention such as educating communities on proper use of bed nets, door-to-door mobilisation about In-door residual spraying and free testing and treatment of malaria. The theme for this year, “End Malaria for Good,” has a special focus on closing the preventive gap for malaria and the need to accelerate and sustain efforts to defeat the tropical disease. Malaria is still a global and regional priority and continues to kill over 400,000 people around the world each year. Dr Bataringaya said that, though an ambitious target, ending malaria for good is achievable. The 2016 World Malaria Report shows that new malaria cases dropped by 23 per cent and malaria deaths by 31 per cent. Most of the prevented deaths were children under five. “Despite progress made at the global and regional level, malaria remains one of the deadliest diseases. The achievements registered, however, reflect the extra-commitment of individuals, families and communities, healthcare workers and authorities and partners,” Bataringaya said. She called on different stakeholders to scale up efforts and sustain them but also applauded the steps taken so far. From 2016, the Government of Rwanda and partners developed and implemented the malaria contingency plan with a multi-sectoral approach to address malaria case. The programme for home-based management for malaria at the community level runs countrywide to reduce the burden and prevent severe malaria. For example, the coverage of mosquito nets is universal. A critical strategy to prevent malaria has seen increased use of insecticide treated bed nets and indoor residual spraying with results said to be impressive. The Director-General of Rwanda Biomedical Centre, Jeanine Condo, said malaria still affects many people. In March, among the first 10 districts that had many malaria cases, six were from Southern Province, the reason the day was marked in the region. These included Huye, Nyanza, Ruhango, Kamonyi, Muhanga and Nyaruguru. “We need to work together to eliminate malaria. Today, we start the activity of residual spraying in Huye and Nyanza and we also remind people that everyone has a role to play in fighting malaria by starting from where they live, ensuring proper usage of mosquito nets and also keeping a clean environment,” she said. Revocat Murekatete, a community health worker in Huye, said malaria is one of the commonest disease they attend to. “We still have the issue of malaria yet we always encourage people to sleep under mosquito nets. However, after this outreach we are optimistic that malaria cases will decrease,” she said. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Malaria Day: Call for effective policies to end the tropical disease