19 Jun 2018

An agreement between Humana People to People and the Ministry of Health and Wellness seems to be yielding positive results in the war against malaria.

This follows a decline of malaria cases in Bobirwa as stated by the head of Bobirwa District Health Management Team (DHMT), Dr Jackson Kaguamba when kick-starting a five-day training programme coordinated by Humana People to People  in Molalatau on Monday.

Dr Kaguamba said in 2014, 44 cases of malaria were recorded while in 2015 the figure dropped to 15 due to ongoing interventions by the DHMT.

Humana People to People has an agreement with the ministry to roll out the Communities Acting Together to Eliminate Malaria (CATTEM) strategy. The strategy aims to mobilise and advocate in the fight against malaria in the sub-district.

“For the years 2014, 2015 and 2016, interventions by DHMT were at 67, 75 and 77.93 per cent respectively, and it is lower than the set  target of over 85 per cent by WHO,” he said, adding that they had intensified their efforts to annihilate the disease.

He said government used over P30 million every year to fight malaria across the country, and that out of the amount, Bobirwa used over P1.4 million.

The training at Molalatau which focused on all stakeholders, he said, was relevant looking at the fact that in the previous years the village was the hardest hit by malaria and even recorded deaths.

He noted that they had managed to reduce malaria cases and expressed hope that this year the figures would drop further looking at the interventions they had in place such as the intensification of the indoor residual spraying and mosquito nets they had issued to the community.  

He appealed to Bobirwa residents to allow volunteers engaged by DHMT to spray their homesteads with the insecticide to kill the mosquito.

During the rolling out of indoor spraying, he said they encountered resistance as some people refused to open their houses to volunteers, saying it was one of the contributing factors to the rising cases of malaria in the sub-district.

“We are also unable to access cattle posts and lands where cases of malaria emerges from while other farmers have employed illegal immigrants who take off when government vehicles approach making accessibility a challenge,” he said.  

Dr Kaguamba was optimistic that with the involvement of dikgosi and other stakeholders, the country would be able to win the war in the next two years.
For his part, the councillor for Molalatau, Mr Nathaniel Moribame said malaria was a life threatening disease that continued to kill a lot of people in Africa including Botswana. Ends