Malaria is third killer disease

A senior Namibian government official has said that malaria causes about 300 to 400 deaths out of the registered 400,000 clinical cases each year, making it the third killer disease after AIDS and tuberculosis. PANA quoted Kalumbi Shangula, the permanent secretary of the health and social services ministry as saying malaria is mainly endemic in the northern regions of the country where about 60 percent of Namibia's population lives. Quoting government figures, Shangula said malaria represented 13.3 percent of all recorded diseases in Namibia in 1995, 20 percent in 1997 and it accounted for 16.4 percent of diseases last year. Shangula said malaria control strategies include early effective treatment, reduction of the number of malaria vectors through spraying with insecticides, as well as referrals to health facilities.