8 November 2005
Health Minister Dr Manto-Tshabalala-Msimang, joined by her Southern African Development Community (SADC) counterparts will mark the SADC Malaria Day on Friday by visiting communities in north-eastern KwaZulu Natal on a door-to-door campaign to create awareness on malaria control with special focus on indoor spraying.
The campaign forms part of the annual SADC Malaria Awareness Week, which culminates into Malaria Day to be held in Umkhanyakude District communities in KwaZulu Natal on Friday 11th November.
Malaria transmission in SADC is seasonal and in 2000 the Ministers of Health took a decision to commemorate SADC Malaria Week in the month of November, which marks the beginning of the malaria transmission season. The theme for this year's campaign is "Protect your family, spray your house". This fits well into the main strategy for malaria control in South Africa that is Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) of homes with long lasting insecticides. This approach can be attributed to the success that South Africa has been enjoying in the past years in reducing the malaria burden.
Malaria transmission in South Africa is currently restricted to the northeastern areas of South Africa, bordering Mozambique, Swaziland and Zimbabwe. Three of the nine provinces in South Africa namely Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Kwazulu Natal are affected by malaria. Ten percent of the total population of South Africa lives in malaria affected provinces.
South Africa has maintained a rigorous malaria control program for decades, based on indoor spraying with long-lasting insecticides such as DDT, the control of mosquito breeding sites, and the provision of the most effective drug therapies. The combination of these interventions has ensured that malaria cases are almost at all time lows in the country.
Also contributing to the success in the effective improvement of malaria control in the region has been our ability to maintain close collaboration between all SADC countries, within the framework of the Lubombo Spatial Development Initiative that started in 1999.
The investment in technical, financial and political cooperation is paying impressive dividends as malaria cases continue to fall in Swaziland, Mozambique and several other countries in the region, including Zambia.
Malaria is one of the most serious tropical diseases in the world and poses a risk to travellers and to residents in malaria areas. The disease can be fatal if not diagnosed and treated at an early stage. In the SADC region, 88 million people live within malaria transmission areas and every year 14 million children and 4 million pregnant women risk contracting the disease. It is also estimated that in the SADC region approximately 250 000 to 300 000 people die from malaria each year.
The media is invited to the event as follows:
Date: 11 November 2005
Time: 10:00 - 13:00
Venue: Bhambanana Sports Field, Umkhanyakude District, KwaZulu Natal Province.
Enquiries: Solly Mabotha (Director: Media Liaison) Department of Health 083 6789 860