Luena — The deputy minister of Health for Hospitals, Evelize Fresta, is expected this Friday morning in Luena City, eastern Moxico Province, to preside over the main national public act in commemoration of the Africa and World Malaria Day, marked on 25 April.

The deputy minister will travel with some foreign ambassadors to Angola, top officials of the United Nations, musicians and other invited guests. In Luena, Evelize Fresta will also inaugurate a fair of products and medicines to fight malaria, as well as launch the campaign of insecticide spraying inside houses in the Sacassange village (14 kilometres south of Luena City).

The national assistant co-ordinator of the Malaria Control Programme, Nilton Saraiva, said last Thursday that about two million malaria cases per year are recorded in hospitals, with 10,000 to 15,000 deaths in the same time span. The health official disclosed that although the country is endemic, in the past two years the rate went down to 5,000 deaths from malaria.

He explained that this significant decrease is due to the various measures and campaigns carried out by the health authorities all over the country, such as wide distribution of insecticide treated mosquito-nets and spraying inside houses.

The increase of awareness campaigns and media information on preventive measures against the illness, as well as the introduction of new medicine, are also some of the reasons that have contributed to the success of the fight against malaria.