Malaria cases increase in Burundi: official

Malaria cases are again on the rise in Burundi despite efforts made to control the epidemics, a senior official at the Burundian Public Health and AIDS Control Ministry warned on Thursday.

"Malaria cases had reduced in 2011 thanks to the methods adopted to combat malaria, but from 2012, malaria cases increased again and the mortality related to malaria also went on the rise," said Dr. Hermenegilde Zimeya, coordinator of the national malaria-fighting campaign.

In 2014, the country's hospitals received 4,731,986 malaria cases with 2,365 deaths.

"During the first six weeks from the beginning of this year, medical institutions received at least 512,664 patients suffering from malaria and 241 of them died. That's too many in just six weeks," said Zimeya, adding that most of the victims were children and pregnant women.

"We are advising people to use mosquito nets and to remove water ponds around houses," the doctor said. Endi