By KALOBWE BWALYA
ABOUT 3.4 million structures were sprayed during the 2020 indoor residual campaign spraying season, while seven million long lasting insecticide treated mosquito nets were distributed in a bid to fight Malaria, Health Minister Jonas Chanda has announced.
The minister added that last year, the country recorded an increased number of malaria of about 7.6 million compared to 2019 which had 5.3 million cases.
Dr Chanda said in 2020, the region witnessed an increase of malaria cases and Zambia was not spared.
He said that the country has therefore intensified interventions to eliminate malaria, a killer disease.
The minister said this during the virtual commemoration of World Malaria Day yesterday.
He said that the day must be an opportunity to create awareness and profile malaria as a disease of public concern earmarked for elimination.
Dr Chanda explained his ministry through the national malaria elimination programme conducted a countrywide mass distribution of 7 million long lasting insecticide treated mosquito nets in 2020.
He said the country was commemorating the event under the localised theme, “Draw the line for a malaria-free Zambia” with the accompanying local slogan, “malaria ends with me.”
He said Government was committed to ensuring that citizens were protected from malaria during the challenging period.
“Zambia’s health sector transformative agenda, in this case, moving from malaria control to malaria elimination, can only be possible if the community is empowered to take ownership and leadership of all our interventions,” Dr Chanda said.
Meanwhile, World Health Organisation (WHO) country representative Nathan Bakyaita said the government’s commitment towards ending malaria is commendable.
And USAID mission director Sheryl Stumbras said, the United States government is committed to supporting Zambia’s fight against malaria and has so far contributed support amounting to over US$300 million.
