15 Mar 2017

Botswana is recognised as a frontrunner for the position of the first country to eliminate malaria in the Elimination 8 (E8) group of countries.

Speaking at the official hand over of 5 (4x4) Ford Ranger vehicles by Southern African Malaria Elimination 8 (E8) initiative, Minister of Health and Wellness Ms Dorcas Makgato said Botswana recorded the lowest number of Malaria cases per 1 000 population.

Ms Makgato said in the last two years, Botswana has received awards of excellence from the African Leaders Malaria Alliance for her achievements in reducing malaria.

She urged former Minister of Health in Namibia, who is also E8 Ambassador, Dr Richard Kamwi and Director at the University of California, San Francisco, Sir Richard Feachem to collectively brainstorm efforts to support regional surveillance and cross-border collaboration strategies in order to accelerate a race to a Botswana and SADC free of malaria.

Ms Makgato said Botswana has signed onto the SADC Elimination 8 Framework Agreement, which provides a platform for joint collaboration towards malaria elimination and because malaria knows no boundaries, the response should similarly transcend boundaries.

“We have neighbour countries that have high malaria transmission, and we are establishing, through the E8 partnership, a mechanism to collaborate to reduce the importation of malaria into our country from across the borders,” she said.

She said as they are scaling their efforts to respond to the increase in cases along borders with Zambia and Zimbabwe, the ministry is rolling out mobile clinics and rapid response teams that will enhance the elimination efforts, particularly along borders in collaboration with the neighbouring countries.

She thanked the E8 secretariat for coordinating the establishment of the mobile clinics whose work would be supported by the five vehicles, adding that the vehicles would enhance capacity for scaling up access to malaria services and improve case management outcomes in the border areas, which is a key to elimination strategy.

Ms Makgato said through the partnership with E8, the national malaria programme would increase access to adequate testing and treatment services in border locations of the region by providing health care services to migrant populations as well as local communities.

For his part, Dr Kamwi said Botswana was truly eliminating malaria.

He cited that out of the 8 countries, Botswana was competing with Swaziland in case mortality as in 2016 they each had 5 death.

In terms of cases per 1 000, Botswana has the lowest as it recorded 0.15 per 1 000.

Dr Kamwi said there was no way a country could eradicate or eliminate malaria without transport and financial resources.

Meanwhile, a press release from the ministry of health states that Botswana was experiencing a high level of Malaria transmission following the recent heavy rains.

According to the press release, there has been an increase in the number of cases of malaria in malaria-prone areas namely; Okavango, Ngami, Chobe, Boteti, Tutume and Bobirwa.

The release states that cases of the disease have also been reported in areas that do not usually have malaria, which include North East, Serowe, Palapye, Mahalapye, Kgatleng, Kweneng, Kgalagadi South and Ghanzi.

Malaria is a serious disease transmitted by mosquitoes and can cause death if not treated quickly. ENDS