Four counties in Mount Kenya region could eliminate malaria by 2023

Four counties in the Mount Kenya region could eliminate malaria by 2023, the Ministry of Health has announced, stating the plans that would lead to the elimination of the disease.

Nyeri, Nyandarua, Laikipia and Kirinyaga counties, which fall under the low-risk malaria zone, are on the road towards elimination of malaria, said the ministry, which has established systems for malaria elimination in targeted counties by 2023.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), malaria may be assumed to be no longer widespread in any given area, when no primary indigenous case has occurred there for three years. The term “elimination” is used when malaria transmission is no longer occurring in a specific geographic area. “Eradication” is used to describe elimination of malaria transmission worldwide.

Dr George Githuka, the head of division of the National Malaria Programme, said the Kenya Malaria Strategy (2019-2030)’s biggest objective is to reduce malaria transmission to a level where it is no longer a public health problem.

The strategy states that, “In view of the shrinking malaria disease burden, and especially in low-risk areas, the country will establish the requisite structures necessary to guide the implementation of sub-national malaria elimination”.

To achieve this, the Health ministry has employed various strategies, including the establishment of structures and capacity at the national and county levels to coordinate and drive the implementation of the elimination agenda.

“To lay a foundation for malaria elimination, key stakeholders will establish a coordinating mechanism to provide leadership for the institutionalisation of malaria elimination,” the Health ministry document states.

The strategy states that the ministry will also develop capacity for malaria elimination through developing and disseminating a malaria elimination business plan, guidelines, training curriculum, and standard operating procedures (SOPs).

The Health ministry also states that it will in the next year ensure there is adequate training to build the capacity of healthcare providers in the counties targeted for elimination as well as establish active case detection, notification, investigation, and response systems for elimination in targeted counties.

“Efforts will be undertaken to enhance the passive and active surveillance systems to detect malaria cases, notify and conduct investigations on detected cases for appropriate response,” the strategy states.

The Ministry of Health said it would also engage with the leadership and senior management at national and county levels to promote the malaria elimination agenda.

Kenya has four malaria zones that are influenced by altitude, rainfall patterns, and temperature. These are the endemic zones, which include areas of stable malaria with altitudes ranging from 0 to 1,300 metres around Lake Victoria in western Kenya and in the coastal region. Rainfall, temperature, and humidity are the determinants of the perennial transmission of malaria in this zone.

The second zone is the arid and semi-arid areas in northern and south-eastern parts of the country, which experience seasonal malaria transmission. The areas experience short periods of intense malaria transmission during the rainy season and temperatures are usually high, and water pools created during the rainy season provide breeding sites for malaria vectors.

There is also the malaria epidemic prone areas of western highlands where malaria transmission is seasonal, with considerable year-to-year variation.

The low risk malaria zone covers the central highlands of Kenya, including Nairobi. The temperatures are usually too low to allow completion of the malaria parasite’s multiplication in the mosquito.