Namibia: 2017 Malaria - Kavango outbreak

[Shiloh]

Source: http://www.namibian.com.na/52302/read/Malaria-outbreak-kills-15-affects-6-000


Malaria outbreak kills 15, affects 6 000
News - National | 2017-03-15Page no: 1
by Ndapewoshali Shapwanale, by Marx Itamalo


HEALTH minister Bernard Haufiku yesterday said 15 people have died because of the malaria outbreak that has affected 6 500 countrywide this year.

Haufiku said this at a press conference in Windhoek when he announced the deployment of volunteers and health assistants to the most affected regions in the country.

The deployment that started today will run until 13 May, and will operate in five rotational cycles.The programme has 100 000 pharmaceutical test kits available, and are expecting another 250 000 by 23 March.

He said the most affected regions are Kavango East and Kavango West (4 600), Zambezi (582) and Ohangwena (1 180).

The minister, who announced the outbreak in the National Assembly last week, yesterday said the floods have worsened the situation and complicated the response to this outbreak...

 

[Shiloh]

Source: https://economist.com.na/24087/health/renewed-malaria-outbreaks-in-kavango/

Op-ed

Namibia Economist
Renewed malaria outbreaks in Kavango
Posted by SADC Correspondent | Apr 21, 2017 | Health |


Op-ed by Hon Sibongile Ndlela-Simelane, Elimination 8 Chair and Minister of Health of Swaziland, and Dr. Richard Nchabi Kamwi, Elimination 8 Ambassador, Champion of the African Union?s Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, and former Minister of Health and Social Services of Namibia.

Six southern African countries have recorded a significant increase in malaria cases, with some countries citing a four-fold increase in cases from the same period last year. In Botswana and South Africa, cases of malaria are being reported in areas that had previously eliminated the disease, and outbreaks have been officially declared in parts of Botswana, Namibia, and Zimbabwe.

Consider Namibia. Due to its dedicated and aggressive malaria control programme, the country went from reporting over half a million cases in 2001 to fewer than 10,000 cases just fourteen years later. The Kavango East and West regions, have been particularly hard hit ? they account for over half of recent malaria cases in the country.

What has caused the malaria outbreak in the region? An analysis is underway, but we know that the region?s unrelenting rains and flooding have propagated mosquito breeding sites and have displaced communities, limiting access to malaria services. The previous four years of drought gave us favorable conditions for progress toward elimination, some of which has now been undone by the rain. Low quality and low coverage of indoor residual spraying (IRS) ? the main preventative measure in almost all of the E8 countries?is likely confounding the situation...