Efforts to reduce malaria infections continue

Malaria infections and deaths across Eritrea have decreased following intensive prevention measures, especially in highly endemic areas like the Gash-Barka region, the health ministry has said.

"Thanks to the commitment of our health workers and everybody's efforts the fight against malaria has showed a dramatic success," said Eritrean health minister Salih Meki during a national malaria control programme assessment meeting in the capital, Asmara.

There was a 13 percent decrease in the number of infected people in 2005 compared with 2004. Some 68 percent of those infected were from the southwestern Gash-Barka region, near the Ethiopian border.

Participants at the meeting, which was held on 27-28 February, set a target to reduce morbidity by 10 percent and mortality by 25 percent in 2006, said a statement issued by the Eritrean authorities on Tuesday.

One of the strategies is greater use of community health assistants in managing the disease. In 2005, community health agents treated many of the cases at health facilities and at the community level. The director general of health, Berhane Ghebretinsae, said the government would also continue to provide free bednets to those who could not afford them.

In 2005, Eritrea reported that the number of cases had fallen by 85 percent over the past five years due to the increased use of free treated bednets provided by the government, which distributed more than one million nets over four years.

Insecticide-treated nets have been shown to reduce malaria transmission by as much as 90 percent and child mortality by up to 20 percent, according to the United Nations.

Malaria is a parasitic disease transmitted by the bite of an infected mosquito. At least 300 million acute cases of malaria occur around the world each year, killing more than one million people. About 90 percent of these deaths occur in Africa, where malaria kills a child every 30 seconds, according to UN figures.

The fight against malaria in Africa got a boost in 1998 when leaders from the continent launched the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) partnership, with the goal of reducing its burden by half by 2010. In April 2000, African states signed the Abuja Declaration to translate the RBM goals into tangible political action.