Stakeholders are reminded on the need to increase investment in
malaria particularly in the use of Intermittent Preventive Treatment
against malaria in pregnancy (IPTp).
In an exclusive interview with The Guardian recently in Dar es
Salaam, Amref Acting Country Director Dr. Rita Norona described IPTp as a
very cost effective intervention method that has the potential to save
many maternal and neonatal lives.
She said with more investment, much more success will be assured,
hence the theme for 2015 is appropriately; ‘Invest in the future, Defeat
malaria.’
“This is especially important as we enter a new era of development
and with new Sustainable Goals set for the post 2015 strategy including
elimination of malaria from a further 35 countries by 2030,” she added.
Dr. Norona pointed out that despite ongoing initiatives to fight
malaria, the disease caused about 584,000 deaths to children in Africa
in 2013 alone and to date, an African child dies every minute from
malaria resulting in the death of almost half a million children below
five years of age.
“The coverage of IPTp is still very low because only 15 million
out of 35 million pregnant women in sub-Saharan Africa receives a dose
of the preventive treatment (IPTp) in 2013,” she said calling for
concerted efforts to scale up its use to save the lives of expectant
mothers and children.
Norona insisted that there is need to invest in diagnostic tests to
ensure treatment is given for confirmed malaria cases as recommended.
In this regard, she said sub-Saharan Africa countries are of
special concern as they are characterised by high levels of malaria
transmission and widespread insecticide resistance.
“Stronger malaria surveillance systems are needed to enable a
timely and effective malaria response in endemic regions, to prevent
outbreaks and resurgences and to track progress,” she urged.
“A vaccine against malaria would go a long way in the fight against
malaria, hence the need for acceleration towards getting one,” she
emphasised.
Nonetheless, the Director explained that concerted effort and
investment over the years have led to significant progress towards the
elimination of Malaria.
She said Amref Health Africa is implementing programmes that are
contributing to the elimination of malaria in Africa. She said Amref has
renewed its commitment to work with the government, development
partners and civil society organisations to achieve this goal.
“We also support countries to scale up implementation of the evidence based high impact interventions such as ITTP,” she said.
Dr Norona went on to emphasise that Amref Health Africa urges
governments and development partners to ensure universal coverage of
quality diagnostics and treatment services to those in need and to
invest in routine monitoring of anti-malarial drug resistance.
“They must also avail funds for the development of new, alternative
insecticides for use on bed nets and they must likewise support
acceleration of the development of a malaria vaccine,” she concluded. SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
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