(Xinhua) — DAR ES SALAAM (Xinhua) — Tanzanian health officials honoured World Malaria Day on Monday by pledging to eradicate the deadly disease in the East African country by 2030.
The Minister for Health, Ummy Mwalimu, said in a statement to mark World Malaria Day that the Tanzanian government, in collaboration with development partners, is implementing a five-year malaria strategic programme (2021-2025) aimed at reducing malaria transmission from 7.5 percent in 2017 to 3.5 percent in 2025.
She appealed to the Tanzania Parliamentary Alliance Against Malaria to support the government in its crusade to eliminate malaria-transmitting mosquitoes through vector control measures, strengthening research and malaria treatment, and keeping the environment clean, she said in the capital of Dodoma.
[embedpost slug=”malaria-killer-of-african-children-set-for-vaccine-zap-2/”]
“According to official figures, 94 percent of Tanzanians are at risk of contracting malaria within a year. This figure is disturbing, to say the least “Mwalimu stated.
Despite statistics demonstrating that malaria transmission in Tanzania has decreased from 14.8 percent in 2015 to 7.5 percent in 2017, she stated that this is still the case.
Malaria-related mortality in Tanzania have decreased by 71% from 6,311 in 2011 to 1,811 in 2021, she said, adding that these figures do not reflect the true picture because only 43% of Tanzanians have had their malaria diagnosed.
Mwalimu warned that malaria remained a health danger in the country, citing numbers from 2021 that showed 10.6 persons diagnosed with malaria for every 100 patients who visited health centres.
According to statistics, the six regions with the highest malaria transmission rates are Kigoma (24%) compared to the national average of 7%, Geita (17%), Kagera (17%), Mtwara (15%), Lindi (12%), and Ruvuma (12%).
The official theme for World Malaria Day is “Population census is vital to eliminating malaria: Zero malaria begins with me,” referring to the country’s National Population and Housing Census, which will take place on Aug. 23, 2022. Enditem
