Zanzibar success in anti-malaria campaign

Malaria is one of the leading causes of death in sub-Saharan Africa where an estimated 3,000 die daily from the disease.

"80 percent of the malaria deaths are in children under the age of five," Peter Schmitz, Head of Medical Services, at the German Development Service (DED) told Deutsche Welle.

Although it's mostly children who die of the disease, many adults offen suffer from longterm effects after getting infected. That is why the disease has a devastating effect on African economies. "Malaria reduces productivity by keeping breadwinners from work when they or a member of their family suffers from the disease", said David Schellenberg, professor of Malaria and International Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Malaria related-illnesses and mortality cost Africa’s economies some USD 12 billion per year.

Yet efforts of the anti-malaria decade to curb the disease have started to show some effect on the continent. "In the last three to four years, we have seen reductions in malaria cases in several areas in Africa", David Schellenberg said.

Zanzibar for instance has reduced malaria incidence by 40 percent through effective prevention.

Zanzibar, an anti-malaria success story

On the island of Zanzibar, more than half of the households now have mosquito nets. The island is one of the areas in the world that will be able to halve malaria cases and deaths by 2010. Zanzibar's success at combating malaria is the result of measures introduced by the government through the Zanzibar Malaria Control Programme, funded in part by the WHO.

According to the Mwinyi Mselem at the Zanzibar Malaria Control Programme, more than 500,000 nets have been distributed on the island. The program has also worked on spraying homes with a residual insecticide to eliminate the breeding ground of mosquitoes – government figures say that more than 213,000 households have been sprayed in the last few years.

Finally, to ensure that patients are treated efficiently and quickly, a rapid diagnosis system, which only takes 15 minutes, has been implemented.

"About 74 percent of health facilities in Zanzibar are diagnosing malaria by using rapid diagnostic tests and 26 percent of health facilities are using malaria microscoping," Mselem told Deutsche Welle.

According to David Schellenberg, Zanzibar is not alone. Burundi, Eritrea, Zambia, Kenya and Gambia have also experienced significant reductions in malaria cases and deaths.

Tide is turning, but more needs to be done

The progress in malaria prevention is welcome news because the link between poverty and malaria is high, Peter Schmitz said.

"Figures from economists show that malaria may account for as much as 1.3 percent reduction of the GDP in some areas in the world," he added.

But there are still 35 African countries that are not doing enough to prevent malaria, Schellenberg said.

A lack of funds, internal conflicts as well as ineffective health policies contribute to the problem. A quarter of all African children who do not have a mosquito net live in Nigeria. And in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the war has worsened to the lack of infrastructure and human resources.

Schellenberg feels that more funds are needed to combat malaria so that crippled healthcare systems can implement adequate treatment and preventative measures.

"The tide is changing. Investment in malaria control does work. We just need more of it," he said.

Author: Asumpta Lattus/ Chiponda Chimbelu
Editor: Anke Rasper