Anti malaria campaign launched

A medical team led by Health Minister Abdou Fall on Monday began a nationwide malaria sensitisation campaign in Senegal, a media source told IRIN. The team will visit each of the country’s 10 regions, PANA reported on Saturday. It said some 800,000 cases of malaria, about 7,000 of them fatal, are registered in Senegal each year. To combat the disease, it said, the Ministry of Health is to make chloroquine available to the population from August through December, when transmission of the malaria parasite is at its height. In addition, some 20,000 impregnated mosquito nets and insecticides will be distributed during this campaign. Maternity wards, Koranic schools and communities in flood-affected areas where malaria prevalence is high will get nets free of charge. Another 300,000 impregnated nets will be sold to the public at subsidised rates, PANA said.