Health and Social Welfare minister David Mwakusya

The government has introduced the Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) kit for malaria as part of efforts aimed at reducing deaths related to the killer disease by 80 per cent by 2013.

The RDTs are reliable and easy to use, particularly for health workers in situations where services are deficient or poor. They can serve as an epidemiological tool for the rapid screening of the disease, giving prompt results.

Health and Social Welfare minister David Mwakusya told journalists after he had introduced the kit in Dar es Salaam yesterday that the introduction of the new test is one of the government initiatives to ascertain that a patient has malaria parasites before starting treatment.

Iringa, Kagera and Coast regions have been identified as pilot sites for the initiative but the kits will be distributed to the rest of the regions by the end of this year.

“Malaria poses a great challenge but if we play a collective role as individuals, cooperate and do not leave the war to the government alone we will make malaria a history,” said Prof Mwakusya.

Malaria is the leading killer in Tanzania, infecting about 18 million people every year. It is responsible for between 60,000 and 80,000 deaths each year – at least nine every hour – mainly pregnant women and children aged under five.

Official records also show that 30-40 per cent of attendance at health centres and hospitals are related to malaria cases, burdening facilities in place, according to the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP).

“Under-five deaths dropped to 91 per 1,000 live births in 2008, down from 147 in 1999,” Alex Mwita, a senior NMCP official, said while presenting a paper in Dar es Salaam recently.

Mwita noted that initiatives being implemented under the Roll Back Malaria Programme, including insecticide-treated bed nets and indoor residual spraying, had helped reduce malaria cases and deaths of under-fives and infants.

Tanzanians had previously implemented the programme and were eagerly awaiting next month’s launch of the ‘Wake Up’ campaign by President Jakaya Kikwete, he said, adding that the government had the right dose of Artemether-Lumefantrine (ALu) “which is effective in treating malaria and is readily available in all public hospitals”.

Prof Mwakusya emphasized that the government would continue distributing treated bed nets through the voucher system as a strategy to fight the disease.

IPP Executive Chairman Reginald Mengi, who represented the private sector at yesterday’s function, challenged members of the business community to play a leading role in the ‘Wake Up’ campaign as part of their corporate social responsibility.

“Give back the portion of the profit to the society as a gesture of goodwill because business won’t thrive in a community suffering from malaria,” he said.

He added that poverty eradication initiatives could only be achieved in a malaria-free society and that productivity among self-employed rural farmers, who comprise 85 per cent of the country’s population, could only be guaranteed by eliminating the killer disease.

Mengi cited the human aspect of business as another reason for the private sector to join the fight against malaria, saying: “It is sad watching helplessly while a fellow human being suffers from malaria.”

Mark Green, former US Ambassador to Tanzania and Director of the US-based Malaria No More Centre, explained that malaria is “preventable, curable and therefore unacceptable as it is stealing from this nation its future leaders”.

He promised to use his diplomatic skills to mobilise resources and take the ‘Malaria is unacceptable’ campaign to a new level, adding: “We will not rest until every citizen is sensitised about the malaria threat through the new ‘Wake Up’ campaign.”

According to the National Planning Commission, malaria costs the country a loss equivalent to 3.4 per cent of the gross domestic product.