New effort to combat malaria

Ministers from Mozambique, Swaziland and South Africa this week will launch the Lubombo Malaria Control Programme in a renewed effort to combat the deadly mosquito-borne disease. A statement from the South African Ministry of Environmental Affairs and Tourism said that the agreement between the three countries will pave the way for a coordinated US $6.6 million programme over the next five years. The programme will attempt to provide greater protection to rural residents and remove one of the largest obstacles to the development of a regional tourism economy. The statement said: “The existing rates of malaria in the Lubombo region (Northern KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Swaziland and Southern Mozambique) is one of the major causes for continued underdevelopment and poverty.” According to the UN’s World Health Organisation (WHO), malaria is considered to be a public health problem in about 90 countries, accounting for about 40 percent of the world’s population. Globally the prevalence of the disease is estimated to be about 300 to 500 million clinical cases each year, with more than 90 percent of all malaria cases are in sub-Saharan Africa. According to WHO an estimated 1 million people die each year, the vast majority of these deaths occurring among young children in Africa, especially in the more remote rural areas. Malaria kills an estimated 3,000 children under the age of five per day, resulting in a death toll that exceeds the mortality rate for HIV/AIDS. African children are chronic victims of the disease, suffering an average of six bouts a year. If not treated in time, children can die less than 72 hours after developing symptoms.