Spraying programme to slash malaria infection rate

The first round of a household spraying programme which aims to slash the malaria infection rate in northern KwaZulu-Natal, eastern Swaziland and southern Mozambique has been completed, the South African Ministry of Environmental Affairs and Tourism said on Monday. The US $5.2 million, three-year malaria control programme began in October and aims to control malaria-endemic regions of southern Africa. This year South Africa recorded 32,000 cases of malaria, with more than 20,000 of these recorded in KwaZulu-Natal. The programme will reduce the incidence of malaria infection in the province of Maputo from 400 per 1,000 to 20 per 1,000 within five years, the ministry said in a statement on Monday. “In the South African and Swaziland regions of the Lubombo Spatial Development Initiative (LSDI), malaria rates will be reduced to 5 per 1,000 from 250 per 1,000 in the same time period.” “Malaria is estimated to cause up to 500 million clinical cases and 2.7 million deaths each year. Every 30 seconds, a child somewhere dies of malaria”, the statement said. The statement said that all communities in the Mozambican districts of Matutuine and Namaacha and the tourism centres of Ponto do Ouro and Ponto Malongane, just north of the South African border, have been fully sprayed.