MUYINGA May 10th (ABP) – Burundi and the World Health Organization (WHO) reiterated Friday in Muyinga (north-eastern Burundi) their firm commitment to fight against malaria to “save the lives of thousands of Burundians who could catch and die from this disease”. That recommitment was made during the ceremonies of the celebration of the 15th edition of World Malaria Day, normally celebrated on April 25 each year. The theme for 2022 is: “Harnessing innovation to reduce the burden of malaria and save lives”. According to Dr. Dismas Baza, WHO delegate at those ceremonies, the chosen theme aligns with the call of that global organization to urgently intensify innovation and the deployment of new tools in the fight against Malaria while advocating for equitable access to disease prevention and treatment as part of building health system resilience. The ultimate goal is to reduce the number of people who catch and die from malaria.
For the WHO, this requires a focus on research and the use of available evidence. This organization is committed to working on, among other things, drug and insecticide resistance, and also focusing on new strains of malaria emerging in the sub-Saharan region that are more difficult to detect and treat. In his speech, the Assistant to the Minister of Public Health and the Fight against AIDS, Mr. Onesphore Nzigirabarya, said that pregnant women and children under five constitute a large segment of those who are at risk. by malaria. Like the WHO, the wish of the government of Burundi is to pull out all the stops to prevent the disease but also to guarantee access to treatment for people suffering from this disease so that by 2027, no one will be able to contract malaria or to die. It should be noted that the Ministry of Public Health and the Fight against AIDS, offered, on this occasion, to community health workers a kit consisting of registers, umbrellas, flashlights.