The health ministry, in collaboration with the World Health Organisation, will launch the 2018 indoor residual spraying campaign today.
Health minister Bernard Haufiku urged the public during a press conference on Friday to embrace the malaria eradication programme that will last until 30 November. The programme will target spraying for mosquitoes in a million structures in the country. He said the ministry has done well so far in efforts to control the malaria scourge, but they cannot lose focus now.
Haufiku highlighted that over the past four years, Namibia has been hit by seasonal upsurges of malaria cases, and that by June 2018, over 29 524 cases had been reported; 10 times more than the cases reported in 2012.
The northern parts of the country were the most affected by malaria, with Kavango East and West accounting for at least 81% of the reported cases in these regions this year, followed by Zambezi with 11%, and Ohangwena with 5%.
The ministry is also aware that the spraying programmes over the past four years, being 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017, did not achieve the desired minimum protective coverage of 85% that would reduce malaria transmission and limit the emerging resistance to insecticides used in the country.
"Indoor residual spraying (IRS) is the application of insecticides on the walls or roofs of houses to kill female anopheles mosquitoes which spread malaria, and is the primary strategy to reduce malaria in the country," Haufiku said.
He added that the campaign will be implemented in nine out of the 14 regions in the country, namely Kavango East and West, Oshana, Oshikoto, Kunene, Otjozondjupa, Omaheke, Ohangwena and Omusati.
Haufiku said the malaria elimination programme is designed to protect the population at high risk, but its effectiveness requires all targeted structures to be sprayed, and that this can only be achieved through collaboration by all stakeholders, especially the community.
"We urge the media to inform the community on the importance of accepting IRS in their villages and households by allowing the sprayer teams into their houses," the minister added.
The conference was also attended by WHO country representative to Namibia Charles Sagoe-Moses who said some of the challenges that block countries' ability to stay on track and advance towards the elimination of malaria include the lack of sustainable funding, abnormal climate patterns, and mosquito resistance to insecticides.
"This is why the WHO developed the global technical strategy for malaria 2016-2030 to help support countries in their fight against malaria eradication, and aim at eliminating malaria in at least 35 countries by 2030," Sagoe-Moses said. He added that malaria continues to have a severe socio-economic impact on populations.
"It is one of the causes of household poverty because it results in absenteeism from daily activities of productive living and income-generation. Malaria also continues to prevent many schoolchildren from attending school due to illness, diminishing their capacity to realise their full potential," he noted.
