Malaria big killer in Africa: experts

The efforts by African countries to control the spread of malaria are hampered by several challenges, particularly the lack of education on the prevention of the disease, health experts said on Wednesday.

Malaria continues to be the second largest killer after the HIV/ AIDS pandemic in Zimbabwe. The disease claims five children every minute in Africa, participants said at an on-going annual malaria conference.

Faced with these challenges, Zimbabwe has put in place various measures to curb the spread of the disease but the efforts are being hampered by several challenges which include the unavailability of adequate drugs and the lack of education among communities.

In Zimbabwe, the provinces of Matabeleland North and South have the highest recorded cases of malaria with Matabeleland North recording 176 malaria-related deaths last year alone.

Matabeleland North provincial medical director Gibson Mhlanga said they have put in place several intervention measures to fight the disease in his area.

Other stakeholders on Tuesday called on the health ministry to expand its awareness programs and educate people, particularly those in vulnerable areas, about the dangers associated with the disease.

Matabeleland South Provincial medical director said it is important to form partnerships with the private sector in a bid to curb the disease.

He said the challenges being faced by the ministry, particularly the shortage of foreign currency and human resources, can be overcome if all the stakeholders play their part, in particular in the area of education.

The participants of the meeting also encouraged the continued use of insecticide as effective prevention method.

Source: Xinhua