‘Let’s All Be Soldiers Against Malaria’

25 April 2011

Maputo — The number of cases of malaria in Maputo province increased sharply in the first quarter of this year, according to the provincial governor, Maria Jonas.

Speaking on Monday in Machava, in the southern city of Matola, on the occasion of World Malaria Day, Jonas said 49,854 cases of malaria had been diagnosed in the province between January and March this year, compared with only 19,018 in the same period of 2010.

Jonas regarded this 68 per cent increase in malaria cases as a matter of serious concern, and stressed the need for all citizens to become involved in the efforts to halt the spread of malaria.

“Let us all be soldiers in the struggle against malaria”, said the Governor. In particular, she urged everyone to support the government’s campaigns to spray insecticide against the mosquitoes that carry the disease.

The Maputo Provincial Director of Health, Cremilda Anli, announced that the province is spending about a million US dollars a year on spraying. Despite this, cases of malaria have risen.

Anli stressed the need to publicise information on how to prevent malaria – including home spraying, and the distribution of insecticide treated mosquiito nets, particularly to pregnant women and children under the age of five.

World Malaria Day was instituted by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2007, in an attempt to encourage the global struggle against the disease.

There has been some progress internationally over the past decade. The number of deaths from malaria fell from 985,000 in 2000 to 781,000 in 2009. About 90 per cent of all malaria deaths occurred in Africa, and 92 per cent of them were among children aged under five.

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