PRIME Minister Kassim Majaliwa has issued several directives aimed at intensifying fight against Malaria in the country.
The Premier said that although the country has recorded a decline in confirmed Malaria cases by 55 per cent more efforts were still needed in order to eliminate the disease by 2030.
Gracing the World Malaria Day yesterday in Dar es Salaam the PM directed the Ministry of Health to conduct a comprehensive campaign especially in rural areas to raise awareness on the disease.
He said they should use various means to deliver the message such as dramas and politicians making Malaria fight awareness as part of their agendas in political meetings.
“Go to those regions with Malaria prevalence rate of less than 1 per cent to ensure that it reaches 0 per cent by 2030,” said Majaliwa.
He urged the Ministry of Health to continue using research institutions to come up with standard mosquito nets for malaria fight.
“There are so many mosquito nets, but we need those with quality so as to cope with government’s pace in eradicating the disease,” Majaliwa said.
The PM also instructed the local government to ensure that mosquito nets provided by the government are used for the intended purposes and not for shielding crops in gardens.
Majaliwa also said that people should also go to the health centres whenever they get symptoms of Malaria so that they can be diagnosed and get appropriate treatment.
However, he cautioned that the public should avoid taking Malaria drugs without doctor’s prescription in order to avoid the drugs’ resistance.
“Not every symptom is related to Malaria, stop using medicine without doctors’ prescription. People should observe proper treatment to avoid drugs’ resistance,” he said.
Moreover, he asked Malaria stakeholders to use the 2022 census which has a lot of information that will help them to plan and implement accordingly.
Furthermore, he asked all citizens to continue getting health services from health facilities.
Meanwhile, Mr Majaliwa launched National Malaria Council and tasked members to ensure that they mobilise resources to supplement government efforts in eradicating the disease.
On her part the Minister for Health, Ummy Mwalimu said although transmission varies significantly among and within regions in the country, the 94 per cent of the entire population of Tanzania is considered at risk of Malaria infections.
She further said Malaria confirmed cases declined from 7.7 million in 2015 to 3.5 million in 2022, the ailment incidence per 1000 population reduced by almost 64 per cent from 162 in 2015 to 58 in 2022.
She said five regions with the highest prevalence rate include Tabora (23.4 per cent), followed by Mtwara (20 per cent), Kagera (18 per cent), Shinyanga (16 per cent) and Mara (15 per cent). The lowest prevalence regions are Manyara, Arusha, Kilimanjaro, Dodoma, Songwe, Mwanza and Dar es Salaam.
She said they started a campaign to provide medication for preventing malaria infection in schools, malaria testing in households that are far away by using community members who will be given education and tools.
In addition, she said the government will also continue to provide treated mosquito nets, education and monitor prevalence at homes as efforts towards eradicating the disease.
This year’s day is marked under the theme “Time to Deliver Zero Malaria: Invest, Innovate, Implement”.