War on malaria costs US $2.7 million

Malawi spends at least US $2.7 million annually treating victims of malaria, which remains one of the country’s main health delivery concerns, media reports said on Thursday. A health ministry official reported that malaria continues to occur with at least eight million cases recorded annually in the country of about nine million people. The official, according to the reports, said on average individual Malawians spend at least US $35 every year on malaria treatment in a country where per capita income is below US $200 annually. The official added that at least 40 percent of all deaths of children under the age of two are as a result of malaria. “However, statistics show that there has been a 63 percent decrease in infant deaths from malaria since the introduction of insecticide-treated mosquito nets,” said the official.