Malaria cases doubled in 2023 with under-five children worst affected: Are interventions working?
Despite several interventions to contain malaria in the country, statistics from Ministry of Health indicated that between January and September 2023 all districts in the country recorded 15 745 under-five malaria cases compared to 7 733 cases in the previous year.
Equally depressing is the fact that under-five children are the worst affected even in districts where interventions are underway to contain the spread of the disease.
Nkhata Bay District recorded the highest cases at 1 421 under-five and 678 in adults. Neno District follows with 1 217 child cases and 859 adult cases while the least affected is Mzimba North with 115 under five cases and 53 adults.
The details are contained in a presentation National Malaria Control Programme coordinator responsible for case management and malaria vaccine John Sande made to journalists in the Northern Region at the weekend.
He said: “There is very high malaria burden especially in children in some districts [Nkhata Bay, Mangochi etc], and low uptake of interventions like malaria vaccine.
“Surprisingly, malaria cases are generally increasing after one year of mass distribution of nets.”
Sande has suggested the need for improved social community mobilisation to improve uptake of malaria vaccine and control interventions.
In 2021, the government rolled out a campaign to end malaria by 2030 with free distribution of long-lasting insecticidal nets.
Malaria remains a public health problem having 6 924 683 malaria cases and 2 368 deaths in 2021 but the numbers reduced to 4 257 729 cases and 1 829 deaths in 2022.
