Tanzania reduces malaria prevalence to 9 pct

Tanzania has managed to reduce malaria prevalence from 33 percent in 2005 to 9 percent in 2015, official said Wednesday.

Theresia Shirima, National Planning Officer on the fight against malaria in the Ministry of Community Development, Gender, Elders and Children said that the decrease is a result of multiple factors including effective campaigns against the leading killer disease in Africa.

She was speaking at an event to introduce a mosquito net clinic dubbed 'Chandarua Kliniki' which will be used to distribute treated mosquito nets to children and maternity clinics in different health centres across the East African nation.

The official explained that Tanzanian government has put up strategies to ensure mosquito nets are distributed countrywide to all families through their school children who will be given the nets at school.

Shirima further said that there were different means of distributing the mosquito nets in Tanzania "and in this fourth phase of the programme, we've already managed to cover 85 percent of families and we expect to continue with the exercise to ensure that our 100 per cent target is attained."

Dr Wedson Sichalwe, Mtwara regional chief physician also disclosed that at the regional level malaria prevalence has also gone down from 33 percent in 2007/2008 percent to 17.5 percent in 2015.

Dr Sichwale said in 2015, about 208,473 patients were diagnosed with malaria in the Out Patient Department (OPD) which is equivalent to17.5percent.

"We intend to distribute mosquito treated nets through various clinics as part of the government's efforts to fight this disease in collaboration with other stakeholders in our bid to find the final and lasting solution for the vice," he noted.

The regional chief physician further added that the plan was part of an initiative to distribute mosquito nets where as the major beneficiaries would be pregnant women and children of nine months who will turn up in children and maternity clinics.

Albertina Mlolowa, Coordinator of children and Sexual Reproductive Health also reminded pregnant women to attend regular clinics asking health care providers to provide service to them without any discrimination.

"There are men, because of their stigma, they have been living women alone when it comes to health care, something that has for a long time been delaying services to pregnant women," she said.

The 'Chandarua Kliniki' plan is implemented through Vector works project sponsored by USAID which is a six-year project (2014-2019) geared upon availability of treated mosquito nets. The plan by the government is to ensure that Malaria prevalence goes down to 6 percent by the end of this year and 1 percent in 2020. Endit