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Killer malaria: Proper treatment neglected
2007-10-07 10:31:05
By Editor
Recent statistics obtained from the National Malaria Control Programme are shocking.
The death toll from malaria stood at 14,465 in 2003, and then shot up to 18,039 the following year, dropping slightly to 17,701 in 2005 and then shooting up again to 20,704 last year.
But more revealing of these statistics is the fact that children below five years have remained the main victims, comprising about half the total deaths.
We are told that last year alone witnessed 5,125,032 under-fives affected by the disease out of 10,339,154 patients. Malaria alone is claiming about 32 per cent of death by diseases in Tanzania, half of it children.
Much as we know that a number of factors have to be dealt with in the fight against malaria, we feel that people still take the disases too much for granted by engaging in self-doctoring with fatal consequences.
The process consists of people when feeling feverish or having joint pains, assuming (diagnosing) that it must be a malaria attack and then proceeding to prescribe for themselves and actually taking the medication that they assume will treat the presumed malaria.
Others start the due process by visiting a doctor, getting tested and being given a prescription, but do not follow through with the prescribed treatment.
When interviewed quite a number of people were failling to take the due process of diagnosing and treating malaria for granted.
Many pointed to financial inability to complete the procedure, while others confidently asserted that they knew how to treat themselves for malaria.
While awaiting progress on trial malaria vaccinations undertaken in Korogwe and Bagamoyo hospitals, as well as the anticipated government subsidies to make the drug more affordable, we feel that all those efforts will be useless if we ignore the doctor`s prescriptive guidance.
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