Issued by Ministry of Health
18 September 2006
The Ministry of Health welcomes the announcement by the World Health Organisation endorsing the use of indoor residual spraying with DDT and other insecticides for the control of malaria.
South Africa is one of the few countries that supported and continued to use DDT to address the challenge of malaria affecting at least three of our nine provinces (KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and Mpumalanga).
South Africa experiences unstable transmission of malaria thus making it prone to malaria outbreaks. South Africa's response to malaria has used DDT for indoor residual spraying as the main vector control intervention.
Mainly because of the re-introduction of DDT, the country has managed to reduce the number of malaria cases from 64 868 in the year 2000 to 7754 in 2005. The incidence of malaria has decreased from 15 per 10 000 population in 2000 to 2 per 10 000 in 2005 in malaria affected areas.
Indoor residual spraying using DDT has also been the main element of the cross-border malaria control collaboration involving South Africa, Swaziland and Mozambique. The three countries have worked together through the Lubombo Spatial Development Initiative, leading to a dramatic decrease in malaria cases in the Lubombo region.
In a statement, WHO said: "Programmatic evidence shows that correct and timely use of indoor residual spraying can reduce malaria transmission by up to 90 percent. South Africa has again re-introduced DDT for indoor residual spraying to keep malaria case and fatality numbers at all-time low levels and move towards malaria elimination."
Despite strong lobby against its decision to use DDT, South Africa has played a leading role internationally in advocating for the recognition of indoor residual spraying and use of DDT as a critical element of the efforts to eliminate malaria particularly in the African continent which carries more than 80% of the burden of malaria in the world.
The Ministry of Health expresses its appreciation for the new position adopted by the WHO on this matter.
Contact: Sibani Mngadi @ 0827720161