Malaria transmission in Ethiopia is mainly seasonal and unstable in character. However, there are areas where malaria is transmitted throughout the year.

The peak transmission seasons are from September to October and to a lesser extent from April to May. These seasons are critical to agricultural work.

It is during these months that farmers carry out their farming and harvesting activities. Malaria debilitates the active population resulting in low productivity and impairs growth. It stains the economy of the families and the country.

Annually, an average of 600,000 cases with positive blood film for malaria are treated. However, the actual number of malaria cases that occur annually in Ethiopia is estimated at 5 million.

Bayu Mulatu, 14, came to Addis Ababa from Dire Dawa where malaria recently created havoc on the people to join thousands of street children living on the streets of Addis Ababa along with some 70,000 stray dogs.

Bayu is not suffering from rabies but malaria. "I wish I could die quickly, he says shivering of malaria fever.

In Ethiopia more than three quarters of the 1.1 million square kilometers of land is malarious and 40 million of the 5 million Ethiopians are at risk of malaria and the disease occurs in epidemic form.

"Despite efforts of nearly four decades to control the spread of malaria now in tandem with HIV/AIDS, the disease still remains to be the leading challenge to the health and development of the people." Says a heath officer.

With 350 days lost per year per 1000 population there are about 5 million clinical cases every year.

Since 1994 malaria epidemic continues to be reported from all the nine regions of the country.

"The increasing trend of the epidemics has burdened the already inefficient health service system" says a health officer, adding, "with insufficient number of laboratory technicians and lack of the necessary equipment, including microscopes, it is not easy to contain the disease"

Climatic change, change in settlement patterns, drought and migrations prevalent in many parts of the country are the basic causes for the spread of malaria.

Latest reports indicate that communicable disease such as malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS are the leading causes of illness and deaths in Ethiopia today.

Diarrhea diseases, acute respiratory infections and vaccine preventable diseases, particularly measles, account for the majority of illness and death among children.

"We need multi-pronged approaches to reduce the morbidity and mortality of malaria such as early diagnosis and prompt treatment and for operational expenses we need millions of dollars." Says a medical doctor, adding, "Malaria control efforts should cease to depend on the efforts of the government alone. It requires a concerted efforts of all the sectors of the society"

But NGO's and other UN agencies say they are co-operating in the fight against malaria. In its programme budget for Ethiopia, WHO has put malaria control among its first priorities.

The epidemic has become so serious that some time ago a national conference under the there of "Roll Back Malaria in Ethiopia" was held and attended by representatives from WHO, UNICEF, UNDP, USAID and a number of NGO's pledging support in combating malaria.

They were all optimistic about the reduction of malaria by at least half in the coming years, "that may be so but what is really needed is a sound strategy that deals with disease management, selective vector control, early epidemic detection and response" says a medical officer, adding, "this is where UN agencies and other NGO's should come in to implement the strategy."n