BUJUMBURA May 9th (ABP) – The director of the integrated national program in the fight against malaria at the Ministry of Public Health and the Fight against AIDS, Dr Pierre Sinarinzi and the technical advisor for the fight against malaria, Dr. Dismas Mbaza of the World Health Organization (WHO), released Wednesday, May 4, 2022, a joint statement on the occasion of the 15th World Malaria Day, under the theme “innovating to reduce the malaria burden and save lives “.
Celebrated on April 25 every year since 2008, this day offers people around the world the opportunity to intensify the fight against malaria, at a time when the number of malaria cases in the world is increasing.
The director of the national program indicated that in 2020, there were 241 million new cases of malaria and 627 thousand malaria-related deaths in 85 most affected countries. More than a third of these deaths were recorded among children under five living in the WHO African regions. In Burundi, malaria remains a major public health problem and is counted among the main national health priorities.
According to 2020 statistical data, the number of cases of malaria is the leading cause of morbidity with an incidence rate per thousand inhabitants still very high, i.e. 470 per 1000 inhabitants. It represents 46% of the reasons for consultation and 59.4% of causes of hospital death for the year 2019. The mortality rate in hospitals was 1.2% according to the report of the same year
According to Dr. Sinarinzi, the government of Burundi, through the Ministry of Public Health and the Fight against AIDS, with the support of its partners, has undertaken significant efforts in scaling up the priority interventions of the fight against malaria. Indeed, in terms of malaria prevention, mosquito net distribution campaigns are organized every three years. Routine mosquito nets are regularly distributed to vulnerable groups, particularly pregnant women during prenatal consultations and children who are vaccinated at eighteen months against measles and rubella.
In terms of malaria case management, he spoke of the new malaria management protocol based on first-line treatment, in the case of uncomplicated malaria, which has been developed and implemented since February 2020, in all the country’s health districts. The WHO technical advisor pointed out that this organization has officially recommended a malaria vaccine since October 2021. That vaccine is the result of research carried out in three countries including Ghana, Malawi and Kenya. The RTSS vaccine, which is sufficiently effective, could be introduced as an additional strategy to supplement those available and will be administered to children from five months to 17 months, in four to five doses, depending on the strategy that the country will adopt. This vaccine is available, he said, stressing that the WHO, in collaboration with other partners such as UNICEF, are doing everything possible to have this vaccine used before the end of this year.