![[Kenya] One-year-old Cosmas Wambua, suffering from an attack of severe malaria, malnutrition and meningitis, while his mother watches in despair, at the pediatric section of the Nyanza Provincial Hospital in Kisumu, 8 July 2006. According to the Kenya’s](https://assets.thenewhumanitarian.org/s3fs-public/styles/responsive_large_2x/public/images/200671311.jpg.webp?itok=O_-YUjuh "Up to 30,000 cases of Hib were recorded in Uganda annually before the vaccine was introduced")
Kenya has launched a malaria control initiative to encourage the widespread use of insecticide-treated mosquito nets and provision of free treatment in hospitals.
The ‘Komesha malaria, okoa maisha’ [Stop malaria, save lives] national campaign, which targets 24 malaria-prone districts, would immediately distribute 1.7 million nets, the health ministry said on Monday.
An estimated 20 million of Kenya's 32 million people live in malaria-prone areas. The disease is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality, particularly among children, killing 34,000 annually, mostly younger than five. It accounts for 30 percent of hospital outpatients and 19 percent of all admissions, according to the ministry of health.
The most endemic areas include the Rift Valley, eastern, central and coastal provinces.
The launch followed a recommendation by the United Nations World Health Organisation last week on the use of Dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT) in indoor residual spraying for areas where malaria is endemic, saying the intervention would play a major role in fighting the disease in Africa.
The use of DDT to control malaria is controversial. Critics cite DDT's inability to organically disintegrate rapidly, hence posing a long-term risk to agriculture.
"Kenya has not made any commitments to use DDT in the fight against malaria. A technical committee will deliberate on the issue before a final policy decision is taken,” the head of the malaria division in the ministry of health, Willis Akhwale, said, adding that there were alternatives, such as the pyrethrum and synthetic pesticides that the ministry could use in its campaign.
The ministry plans to spray 600,000 households in 16 epidemic-prone districts during the next malaria transmission season.
In April, Kenya adopted a national malaria strategy in line with the Abuja declaration of 2000 which urged African states to work towards malaria eradication. The ministry of health introduced the use of an Artemisinin Combination Therapies (ACTs) drug, Coartem, as the first-line treatment for malaria.
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The ‘Komesha malaria, okoa maisha’ [Stop malaria, save lives] national campaign, which targets 24 malaria-prone districts, would immediately distribute 1.7 million nets, the health ministry said on Monday.
An estimated 20 million of Kenya's 32 million people live in malaria-prone areas. The disease is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality, particularly among children, killing 34,000 annually, mostly younger than five. It accounts for 30 percent of hospital outpatients and 19 percent of all admissions, according to the ministry of health.
The most endemic areas include the Rift Valley, eastern, central and coastal provinces.
The launch followed a recommendation by the United Nations World Health Organisation last week on the use of Dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT) in indoor residual spraying for areas where malaria is endemic, saying the intervention would play a major role in fighting the disease in Africa.
The use of DDT to control malaria is controversial. Critics cite DDT's inability to organically disintegrate rapidly, hence posing a long-term risk to agriculture.
"Kenya has not made any commitments to use DDT in the fight against malaria. A technical committee will deliberate on the issue before a final policy decision is taken,” the head of the malaria division in the ministry of health, Willis Akhwale, said, adding that there were alternatives, such as the pyrethrum and synthetic pesticides that the ministry could use in its campaign.
The ministry plans to spray 600,000 households in 16 epidemic-prone districts during the next malaria transmission season.
In April, Kenya adopted a national malaria strategy in line with the Abuja declaration of 2000 which urged African states to work towards malaria eradication. The ministry of health introduced the use of an Artemisinin Combination Therapies (ACTs) drug, Coartem, as the first-line treatment for malaria.
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