May 2002
Welcome to the 3rd National Malaria Update.
This update serves to provide feedback to a range of persons involved in the malaria programmes. For this edition, malaria cases and deaths for the three malaria affected provinces in South Africa as well as for the rest of the country are presented. The total number of malaria cases reported as per malaria season for 1999/2000, 2000/2001 and 2001/2002 are provided below. In South Africa, malaria transmission occurs from October to May and is therefore defined as the "malaria season". However, annual comparisons of data is recorded and graphed presented from July to June. The provinces have been consulted for comments regarding the general trends. Inputs or comments regarding the data interpretation are welcomed.
We apologise for the late distribution of this update. Please note that no data was received from the rest of the country hence it was not included in this update.
Limpopo
For the month of May, 157 malaria cases were reported. Of these, 11 were identified via active surveillance whilst 146 were via passive surveillance. From July 2001 - May 2002, 47 deaths were notified resulting in a case-fatality rate of 0.8%. The case-fatality rate has increased from 0.6% to 0.8% from April to May. Several amendments were made to reported data for the month of April with 133 additional cases having been included.
A total of 858 cases were reported in Mpumalanga for the month of May. A high number of cases 76% (653/858) are still being reported from the Tonga health district. Almost half (47%) of these reported cases from the Tonga district are from three clinics - namely; Naas clinic (reported 84), Komatipoort Municipal Clinic (reported 165) and Strydomblock Muncipal Clinic (reported 77). Three deaths were reported from Mpumalanga. These occurred in the Shongwe, Tonga and Kabokweni health district. Thirty-two cases of Malaria were reported from the Kruger National Park. The localities reporting the cases were Skukuza, Nwanetzi, Onder Sabie and Moven Pick. The majority of the cases (78%) were reported from Skukuza.
The case fatality rate for the current season thus far is 0.3%. Last month it was 0.2%.
The case fatality rate for the current season thus far is 0.2
KwaZulu-Natal
A total of 244 malaria cases were reported for May 2002, of these 28% (68/244) were passive cases. Two deaths were reported for the month. Just less than half (42%) of the cases reported were from the Ingwavuma region The case-fatality rate for the season thus far is 0. 8%.
A total of 3 cases were reported for the month of March. No data has been received for April. These were reported from the North West Province. No deaths have been reported thus far for this malaria season whilst a total of 257 cases have been reported. The number of cases reported for this year does not reflect the true situation due to under reporting. Several of the provinces have not submitted their notification data for this year. All the cases notified for year are from the North West Province.
Compiled by Caron Johnson and Patrick Moonasar, National Department of Health, with the assistance of the Provincial Malaria Control Programme Managers
Tel (012) 312-0046
e-mail: johnsc@health.gov.za
