Dagnachew Teklu
24 April 2003
Addis Ababa — Ministry of Health (MOH) said that over 40 million Ethiopians are currently living under malaria risk throughout the country.
This was stated yesterday at the Commemoration of the Africa Malaria Day (25 April), being marked under the theme Insecticide Treated nets and Effective Malaria Treatment for pregnant women and young children by 2005.
Ato Alemayehu Seifu, Head of Diseases Prevention and Control Department at MOH said that malaria continues to be a major public health problem significantly contributing to the retardation of the country's socio-economic progress.
"Due to this fact the disease has now, rightly and timely captured the concern of government and international organizations," Alemayehu said.
He said that in addition to the over 40 million people who are living under the malaria risk, close to six million malaria cases occur annually in the country.
Alemayehu also indicated that malaria is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the country.
"The government renewed its commitment to prevent and control this dreadful disease by adopting a global Roll Back Malaria (RBM) initiative, which aims at reducing malaria burden by 50 per cent in the year 2010," he added.
Alemayeh further stated that a project proposal by the government was developed and sent to the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria where over 37 million dollars is in the process to be approved for the year 2003-4 for malaria control component.
Dr. Angela Benson, WHO country Representative to Ethiopia on her part said that approximately 40 per cent of the world's population, mostly those living in the poorest countries, are at risk of malaria.
"Today malaria is found through the tropical and Sub-tropical regions of the world and causes more than 300 million acute cases of malaria and at least one million deaths annually," Angela said.
She said that about 90 per cent deaths due to malaria occur in Africa South of the Sahara and number one killer of young children in the continent, accounting to one in five of all childhood deaths.
"It accounts for 40 per cent of public health expenditure. Children who survive an episode of severe malaria may suffer from learning impairments or brain damage," she added.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2003 The Daily Monitor. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
