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Zanzibar concludes indoor anti malaria spraying campaign
2006-09-12 09:19:59
By Issa Yussuf, Zanzibar
The Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) campaign to control mosquitoes causing malaria has successfully been concluded in Zanzibar.
The Zanzibar Malaria Control Programme (ZMCP) Co-ordinator, Dr Mahdi Ramsan confirmed on Sunday in Zanzibar the exercise had officially come to an end with over 90 per cent target met.
”The spraying ended on September 9, and we expect to have an event on September 15 this year in Pemba, to mark the end of the exercise,” Dr Ramsan said.
According to Dr Ramsan, the 54-day exercise, which involved a personnel of 450, was successful with more than 200,000 households sprayed.
”Despite few cases of some people rejecting their houses to be sprayed, we believe that the majority of the households were sprayed. Pemba Island has done best compared to Unguja Island.” Said Dr Ramsan.
He said, however, the spraying exercise would go on until September 14 this year,to ensure all the households are sprayed.
The medic said, through local leaders, the team was still persuading those who declined to have their houses sprayed earlier to allow the officials do so.
”The IRS will be done twice a year, so the next IRS in Zanzibar is next February,” Dr Ramsan said, adding that malaria cases in Zanzibar had been dropping from 54 per cent in 2003 to 31 per cent by late 2005.
The Zanzibar minister of Health and Social Welfare, Sultani Mugheiry said the on going crusade against malaria would rid the isle of the disease in a period of four years.
”We Zanzibaris need to keep our environment clean, use treated nets, and use the right treatment for malaria. Then with the IRS success to control mosquito carrying malaria parasites from entering, we shall live without the malaria problem,” Mugheiry said.
Apart from the IRS, Zanzibar has successfully undertake programmes on awareness, mobilisation of community leaders to help in the anti malaria campaign, and distribution of Insecticide Treated mosquito Nets (ITNs), under the support of the US President George Bush anti-malaria initiative.
At least 2,300,000 ITNs have been distributed free of charge to pregnant mothers and children under five, in both Unguja and Pemba, under the KATAA Malaria programme supported by USAID.
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