In the next six years, the number of Tanzanians killed by malaria could be halved. They just need to start using insecticide-treated nets, medical experts say.
– Treated nets can reduce mosquito bites by more than 80 percent and kill more than 50 percent of all mosquitoes that enter houses, Alex Mwita, manager of Tanzanias National Malaria Control Programme, said.
Medical experts say the use of bed nets would cut the number of children killed by the disease by 27 percent, reports IRIN.
Currently, Tanzania has the highest rate of death from malaria in southern Africa. A staggering 100.000 Tanzanians die from the disease each year. That is the equivalent to one person every five minutes.
About 70 percent of the deaths occur among pregnant women and children below the age of five years.
Efforts to combat Tanzanias number one killer had been minimal, until recently. – Malaria is a big challenge, but it can be prevented with the right interventions, Mwita said.
Changing sleeping habits is the issue, Mwita said. Tanzanians need to start using bed nets.
But many Tanzanians say they are not used to sleeping under mosquito nets. – I feel I can not breathe when I am under a mosquito net, said Asha Munisi, 37, who lives in Tanzanias Coast Region, one of the hardest-hit malaria zones, and who admits he suffers recurrent bouts of malaria.
– And I do not trust those chemicals, he added, referring to the insecticide used to treat the nets.
Tanzanias National Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) has approved the insecticide as being safe for humans. Yet less than 1 percent of Tanzanians used bed nets before 2002, according to Ministry of Health officials.
In that year, the government eliminated taxes on mosquito nets and anti-malaria chemicals, in keeping with a pledge it made in 2000 along with 15 other African countries at a meeting on malaria in Abuja, Nigeria.
Waiving the taxes has lowered the costs of nets and encouraged investment in related industries. But a recent NIMR study found that even after the waiver not even 2 percent of Tanzanians slept under nets.
Officials remain hopeful that Tanzanian habits will change. – Most mothers already sleep with their babies, so they can easily sleep under the same bed net, Mwita said.
And children above five years old normally share one large bed, he added, so they can all be shielded by one large net.
The country has received at least 19,8 million US dollar from the UN Global Fund to support the countrys National Insecticide-Treated Nets Implementation Plan (NatNets).
To reduce further the cost to pregnant women and women with children below age five, the government launched a pilot system in 2003. The women are given vouchers to buy bed nets from designated shops that cost them between 500 shillings (50 US cents) and 700 shillings (70 US cents) depending on size.
So far, the scheme, which is funded by the UN Childrens Fund at a cost of 11 million US dollar, is only available in two of Tanzanias districts, Kibaha and Kilosa, where more people die from malaria than anywhere else in the country.
The scheme could eventually be available throughout the country if the government can raise the necessary funds. – The target is to have 60 percent of pregnant women and children below age five using insecticide-treated nets by 2007, Mwita said.
The chief medical officer of Kibaha, Mariam Ongara, told IRIN that even at the discounted price many poor women could not afford the nets. She and other health experts are calling on the government to distribute the nets free of charge.
Malaria is already a major burden on the East African countrys economy. The government spends 121 million US dollar each year on treatment and prevention, which is equivalent to 3,4 percent of the GDP.
About 18 million Tanzanians suffer from the disease each year. That is one in every two persons.
The treatment for outpatients costs around 1,50 dollar a day; inpatient treatment costs 19 dollar (ca. 120 DKR) a day. That is far more than what the average Tanzanian can pay.
Kilde: FN-bureauet IRINnews
