Success as Z’bar attains pre-elimination stage in malaria control
Dar es Salaam. Zanzibar has attained a pre-elimination stage in malaria control after the prevalence of the disease was kept as low as less than 1 per cent since 2010, reaching up to 0.003 per cent in recent years.
According to World Health Organisation (WHO), the pre‐elimination stage is a transition period, when malaria control programmes are being sustained to attain malaria elimination.
Experts from the Zanzibar ministry of Health said on Tuesday November 14 that Zanzibar had attained the pre-elimination stage and that the plan was to ensure it became free from malaria transmission by 2023.
Speaking during the Tanzania Health Summit in Dar es Salaam, public health experts said a few cases of malaria being detected in Zanzibar had been found to be “imported.”
The Zanzibar Malaria Elimination Programme (ZMEP) deputy manager, Dr Faiza Abbas, said malaria was considered a notifiable disease on the Isle. A notifiable disease is any disease, which is required by law to be reported to government authorities, according to experts.
“Whenever a malaria case is detected, all the authorities are alerted and within 48 hours the case is followed up at household level. The village, where a malaria patient is detected, is immediately investigated and focal testing is done,’’ said Dr Faiza.
The pre-elimination stage, which Zanzibar has attained, means a stage, when coverage with good‐quality laboratory and clinical services is given an upper hand, reporting and surveillance are reinforced, followed by key adjustments to halt transmission nationwide.
According to Dr Abbas, Zanzibar is focusing on household surveillance of the disease, coupled with the treatment of all cases, emphasising the use of insecticide treated nets and indoor residual spraying to keep mosquitoes at bay.
Currently, the biggest healthcare challenge facing Zanzibar is the growing threat of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), according to the Zanzibar director for Health Education and Disease Protection, Dr Mohamed Dahoma.
Dr Dahoma said this when presenting a topic during the Tanzania Health Summit entitled: “Successes and Challenges of Zanzibar’s Healthcare System. What we need to learn.’’
“The causes of death in Zanzibar are attributed to motor traffic accidents and NCDs. This wasn’t the case many years ago,’’ he said during the summit.
If Zanzibar attains the elimination stage in the future it means there will be zero incidences of locally acquired malaria infections.
That, according to the ZMEP deputy manager, Dr Abbas, will come if there is adequate funding in household surveillance systems and outdoor residual spray in dealing with malaria transmitting mosquitoes.
More to come…
