| Malaria infection rate goes down in Mtwara District | Send to a friend |
| Monday, 21 March 2011 22:24 |
|
The Citizen Correspondent Mtwara.The malaria infection rate decreased by five per cent in Mtwara District last year.The Malaria coordinator in the Mtwara District Council, Mr Fedson Magafu, told The Citizen over the weekend that the battle against the killer disease was more successful last year than in 2009. He said in that year about 64,809 cases of malaria were detected from various health facilities in the council. However, in 2010 the number decreased to 61,637 cases, showing a five per cent decrease.“Out of 61,637 malaria patients diagnosed, children aged under five years were 38,444. Among them 36,810 were out patients while 1,634 were admitted to hospitals,” said Mr Magafu. He explained: “About 24,843 patients were old people of whom 456 were admitted while the rest were out patients.” He revealed that, according to the data, more children were affected as 24 lost their lives out of 34 who affected last year. He said the success has been achieved through the free provision of 158,558 treated mosquito nets to each household. He said the campaign reached 98.8 per cent of the targeted 160,950 people. “Despite the provision of mosquito nets, we have realised that most residents do not use the mosquito nets at night. They only hang them on their bed to show them to inspectors visiting them,” he noted. He said another challenge weakening their efforts was that some of them use medicine which is not prescribed. This makes the disease chronic, while others do not complete the malaria doze, he lamented.He emphasised that they would now exert more efforts to raise awareness among the public on the effects of the disease since the campaign will co-opt all health stakeholders. Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites           |
