VIOLET MENGO
Lusaka
May 4, 2016
THE 2015 National Malaria Indicator Survey (MIS) released in Lusaka recently has shown that Zambia has continued to be a leader in the fight against malaria.
The country has completed five MISs, making it the first African nation to have conducted five malaria indicator surveys on the continent.
The surveys were conducted in 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2015.
This is particularly in scaling up coverage with life-saving tools like insecticide treated-bednets (ITNs) and indoor residual spraying (IRS).
ITNs in particular have long been a primary prevention strategy and the country has one of the highest ITN coverage rates in Africa, with 80 percent of households owning at least one mosquito net.
The national vision for ITN distribution is to have universal coverage for all people where there is potential for malaria transmission.
Universal coverage is defined as ensuring that all sleeping spaces in households are covered by ITNs.
The survey shows that ownership of ITNs was fairly equitable in both rural and urban areas while coverage was high in both categories from 2012 levels.
Intervention coverage for those at the lower end of the economic spectrum has also continued to rise.
The highest and lowest wealth categories reported ITN ownership of 77 percent and 73 percent, respectively.
In the recent past, Zambia has also increased the number of districts where IRS is deployed from 15 districts during the 2005- 2006 period to all 103 districts today.
The MIS report also states that 81 percent of all households are now protected with at least one ITN or being sprayed with IRS, up from 73 percent in 2012.
In addition, the number of women taking intermittent preventive treatment during pregnancy remains high with 90 percent of all women taking a dose, up from 88 percent in 2012.
And Ministry of Health permanent secretary Peter Mwaba, in his foreword of the report, says the MIS provides valuable information about progress made, which is shared with various stakeholders.
Dr Mwaba says the MIS also reflects the changing nature of service delivery in terms of malaria treatment.
The MIS report was based on a nationally representative two-stage cluster sample of 3, 750 households surveyed from 150 standard enumerated areas randomly selected from all the 10 provinces to provide national, urban and rural estimates.
The Ministry of Health has concentrated malaria elimination research in Southern Province, after choosing the region as the site for treatment strategies aimed at household and community levels.
IRS is one of the primary malaria prevention strategies in Zambia and during the period 2014- 2015, it was conducted throughout the country.
The survey shows that an estimated 29 percent of households were reported to have been sprayed in the previous 12 months, largely due to the 2014 seasonal campaign.
Eastern Province, where IRS scale-up has occurred, saw a decline from 25 percent of children testing positive for the disease by microscopy in 2012 to 13 percent in 2015.
Lusaka, Northern and Western provinces reported the lowest levels of IRS coverage.
Malaria prevalence in the country was measured by both rapid diagnostic test and slide microscopy during the 2015 MIS.
The malaria slide results showed higher prevalence in older children than younger ones.
Rural areas reported much higher levels of malaria than urban areas. Children in the highest wealth category were least likely to test positive while those in the lowest wealth category were most likely to test positive.
Deputy Minister of Health Chitalu Chilufya said, when he launched the report recently, that the MIS provides government with the necessary results for decision making to intensify malaria control interventions and implement elimination measures as guided by evidence.
“We still need to be innovative and continue to intensify, re-strategise and focus our efforts in a more systematic manner using evidence generated through surveys such as the MIS,” Dr Chilufya said.
The deputy minister said there is also need for a more synergistic approach involving all key stakeholders such as other line ministries, traditional partners, private sector and the community.
“The report will provide implementers and the leadership at various levels with information for better decision making as we move towards malaria elimination,” he said.
According to Dr Chilufya, government has set a goal to eliminate malaria by 2020 in line with the Abuja Declaration of 2000.
The declaration was a commitment made by African leaders to intensify efforts to halve the malaria mortality on the continent by 2010 by implementing strategies and actions for Roll Back Malaria as agreed at the Abuja Summit.
Dr Chilufya said government, through the Ministry of Health, is committed to ending malaria through evidence-based interventions.
The main objective of the MIS is to carry out a comprehensive evaluation using national household surveys to assess community level availability of key malaria interventions.
Another significant feature of the survey is the assessment on the status of malaria-related burden through anemia and parasite prevalence testing targeting children under the age of five as a proxy for the entire population.
By province, Luapula reported the highest level of malaria prevalence with 32.5 percent of children testing positive to the disease.
Overall, the 2015 MIS showed the progress that Zambia has made in the fight against malaria over the past decade.
The report demonstrated the continued success of ITN distribution and the increasing use of IRS in rural areas.
Nationally, malaria prevalence did not decline as much as it had in previous years.
However, some provinces showed dramatic improvements most likely due to increased IRS and treatment-based strategies.
World Health Organisation (WHO) regional director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti said between 2000 and 2015, malaria cases and deaths due to the disease in Africa declined by 42 percent and 66 percent, respectively.
Dr Moeti, who was represented at the launch of the MIS report by WHO country representative for Zambia Jacob Mufunda, said although commendable progress has been made, malaria still remains a major public health and development challenge.
He said the current global solidarity for a malaria- free world has been further enhanced by the Sustainable Development Goal to end malaria by 2030.
Zambia remains an example of a country with a well-coordinated national malaria programme aimed at reducing morbidity and mortality.
As the global community seeks to attain the ambitious goal of reducing malaria mortality and incidence rates by 90 percent and eliminating the disease in at least 35 countries by 2030, Zambia continues to lead in mounting research efforts to help end the deadly disease.
Lusaka
May 4, 2016
THE 2015 National Malaria Indicator Survey (MIS) released in Lusaka recently has shown that Zambia has continued to be a leader in the fight against malaria.
The country has completed five MISs, making it the first African nation to have conducted five malaria indicator surveys on the continent.
The surveys were conducted in 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2015.
This is particularly in scaling up coverage with life-saving tools like insecticide treated-bednets (ITNs) and indoor residual spraying (IRS).
ITNs in particular have long been a primary prevention strategy and the country has one of the highest ITN coverage rates in Africa, with 80 percent of households owning at least one mosquito net.
The national vision for ITN distribution is to have universal coverage for all people where there is potential for malaria transmission.
Universal coverage is defined as ensuring that all sleeping spaces in households are covered by ITNs.
The survey shows that ownership of ITNs was fairly equitable in both rural and urban areas while coverage was high in both categories from 2012 levels.
Intervention coverage for those at the lower end of the economic spectrum has also continued to rise.
The highest and lowest wealth categories reported ITN ownership of 77 percent and 73 percent, respectively.
In the recent past, Zambia has also increased the number of districts where IRS is deployed from 15 districts during the 2005- 2006 period to all 103 districts today.
The MIS report also states that 81 percent of all households are now protected with at least one ITN or being sprayed with IRS, up from 73 percent in 2012.
In addition, the number of women taking intermittent preventive treatment during pregnancy remains high with 90 percent of all women taking a dose, up from 88 percent in 2012.
And Ministry of Health permanent secretary Peter Mwaba, in his foreword of the report, says the MIS provides valuable information about progress made, which is shared with various stakeholders.
Dr Mwaba says the MIS also reflects the changing nature of service delivery in terms of malaria treatment.
The MIS report was based on a nationally representative two-stage cluster sample of 3, 750 households surveyed from 150 standard enumerated areas randomly selected from all the 10 provinces to provide national, urban and rural estimates.
The Ministry of Health has concentrated malaria elimination research in Southern Province, after choosing the region as the site for treatment strategies aimed at household and community levels.
IRS is one of the primary malaria prevention strategies in Zambia and during the period 2014- 2015, it was conducted throughout the country.
The survey shows that an estimated 29 percent of households were reported to have been sprayed in the previous 12 months, largely due to the 2014 seasonal campaign.
Eastern Province, where IRS scale-up has occurred, saw a decline from 25 percent of children testing positive for the disease by microscopy in 2012 to 13 percent in 2015.
Lusaka, Northern and Western provinces reported the lowest levels of IRS coverage.
Malaria prevalence in the country was measured by both rapid diagnostic test and slide microscopy during the 2015 MIS.
The malaria slide results showed higher prevalence in older children than younger ones.
Rural areas reported much higher levels of malaria than urban areas. Children in the highest wealth category were least likely to test positive while those in the lowest wealth category were most likely to test positive.
Deputy Minister of Health Chitalu Chilufya said, when he launched the report recently, that the MIS provides government with the necessary results for decision making to intensify malaria control interventions and implement elimination measures as guided by evidence.
“We still need to be innovative and continue to intensify, re-strategise and focus our efforts in a more systematic manner using evidence generated through surveys such as the MIS,” Dr Chilufya said.
The deputy minister said there is also need for a more synergistic approach involving all key stakeholders such as other line ministries, traditional partners, private sector and the community.
“The report will provide implementers and the leadership at various levels with information for better decision making as we move towards malaria elimination,” he said.
According to Dr Chilufya, government has set a goal to eliminate malaria by 2020 in line with the Abuja Declaration of 2000.
The declaration was a commitment made by African leaders to intensify efforts to halve the malaria mortality on the continent by 2010 by implementing strategies and actions for Roll Back Malaria as agreed at the Abuja Summit.
Dr Chilufya said government, through the Ministry of Health, is committed to ending malaria through evidence-based interventions.
The main objective of the MIS is to carry out a comprehensive evaluation using national household surveys to assess community level availability of key malaria interventions.
Another significant feature of the survey is the assessment on the status of malaria-related burden through anemia and parasite prevalence testing targeting children under the age of five as a proxy for the entire population.
By province, Luapula reported the highest level of malaria prevalence with 32.5 percent of children testing positive to the disease.
Overall, the 2015 MIS showed the progress that Zambia has made in the fight against malaria over the past decade.
The report demonstrated the continued success of ITN distribution and the increasing use of IRS in rural areas.
Nationally, malaria prevalence did not decline as much as it had in previous years.
However, some provinces showed dramatic improvements most likely due to increased IRS and treatment-based strategies.
World Health Organisation (WHO) regional director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti said between 2000 and 2015, malaria cases and deaths due to the disease in Africa declined by 42 percent and 66 percent, respectively.
Dr Moeti, who was represented at the launch of the MIS report by WHO country representative for Zambia Jacob Mufunda, said although commendable progress has been made, malaria still remains a major public health and development challenge.
He said the current global solidarity for a malaria- free world has been further enhanced by the Sustainable Development Goal to end malaria by 2030.
Zambia remains an example of a country with a well-coordinated national malaria programme aimed at reducing morbidity and mortality.
As the global community seeks to attain the ambitious goal of reducing malaria mortality and incidence rates by 90 percent and eliminating the disease in at least 35 countries by 2030, Zambia continues to lead in mounting research efforts to help end the deadly disease.
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