Kenya adopts ambitious plan to eliminate malaria

Kenya, alongside other 49 African countries, has adopted an ambitious plan to eliminate malaria in in the continent in the coming decade.

By signing the “Catalytic Framework to end Aids, TB and Eliminate Malaria in Africa by 2030” Kenya will seek to “eliminate malaria incidence and mortality, and prevent its transmission and reestablishment in all countries by 2030.”

It aims to reduce malaria incidence and mortality rate by at least 40 per cent by 2020, and 75 per cent by 2025.

Towards this stride, Kenya has increased mosquito net coverage, quick diagnosis and access to antimalarials that has contributed to the drop in malaria prevalence from 11 to 8 per cent between 2010 and 2015.

The disease claims at least 4,000 lives annually, most of them children, with an estimated 25 million Kenyans are at risk.

The current AU chairman and Chad President Idriss Déby Itno said leaders ought to ramp up domestic resources to ensure success of the plan.

“Through our continued leadership and increased cooperation to finance and provide lifesaving anti-malaria interventions, we can sustain our momentum and achieve a malaria, HIV/AIDS and TB-free Africa,” he said.

KIGALI ROADMAP

The roadmap was endorsed during the 27th African Union (AU) Summit in Kigali under the auspices of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA).

ALMA Executive Secretary Joy Phumaphi said in a phone interview with the Nation that for the first time in the history of the fight against malaria, “a malaria free Africa is actually in sight.”

She said despite the progress made by African countries, the countries should continue “spraying every year, replace treated nets in homesteads to ensure malaria is kept at bay.

“Rwanda’s can eliminate malaria but that is not sustainable, due to importation from across the borders for instance.

“Therefore, there might be a bigger outbreak and a worse flare up than before not just in Rwanda but also in Uganda,” she added.

She said sometimes the fight against malaria is “not about funding but how fast we can procure commodities such as drugs, indoor sprays and the likes.”

THE NUMBERS

In the past 16 years, malaria mortality rates in Africa have fallen by 66 per cent among all age groups and by 71 per cent among children under five years old.

Annual malaria deaths in Africa have decreased from an estimated 764,000 in 2000 to 395,000 in 2015.

However, despite the progress, the disease is one of the top causes of morbidity in pregnant women and mortality in children.