More work needs to be done before we can say that malaria is no longer a public health problem.
“While the outcome of the departments control efforts are encouraging and commendable, there is still a lot more work to be done,” Health Secretary Pascoe Kase said.
The world will mark World Malaria Day today, April 25, with the theme: “End malaria for good”, the secretary stated.
“Our partners, Rotarians Against Malaria (RAM) has made it possible for about 95 percent of all households to have at least two long lasting insecticide treated nets. All our people must use their nets each and every night to protect themselves from malaria, particularly those who are most vulnerable to the damaging effects of malaria.
“Children aged five and younger and pregnant women are the most vulnerable to malaria and we must insist they sleep under a net each and every night.”
Kase said malaria is easily preventable and curable.
“We encourage all persons suspecting malaria to report to a health facility within 24 hours of the onset of fever to get tested and treated with the currently available most effective medication.
“All people who are reporting to a health facility with fever must be tested, and if positive for malaria, treated accordingly.
“Presently, only a small percentage of people are receiving the recommended treatment, resulting in other complications and unnecessary deaths, especially among the very young and mothers.”
Malaria as a very important disease has not received the prominence it rightfully deserves as a priority public health problem, Kase said.
“Everybody talks about malaria every time they have a fever or a headache. The word is so common that almost every illness falls within the category of malaria but let me tell you that not every headache and fever is malaria.
“This is why testing to confirm that you have malaria is important so that you can be treated with the correct medicines that are made available in all health care facilities throughout the country.”
Previously there had been no guidance to the provinces and districts to effectively implement the national policies for malaria control, said the secretary.
This is a thing of the past because the health department now provides the guidance required to effectively protect people from getting malaria, preventing debilitating illness and having to die from a very easily preventable disease.
(Children aged five and younger and pregnant women are the most vulnerable to malaria and we must insist they sleep under a net each and every night, says Health Secretary Pascoe Kase. Picture: Women News Network)