MAPUTO, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Mozambican Ministry of Health through its Department of National Program for Malaria Control told Xinhua in an interview on Tuesday that the authorities have doubled their efforts nationwide to fight malaria in prevalent season.
According to Baltazar Candrinho, Director of National Program for Malaria Control, the present December-April period overlapping the rainy season is considered by the authorities as the prevalent season when a rise in cases of malaria is registered in hospitals and health unities. More efforts are being made in distribution of mosquito nets, house spraying and education campaigns.
The damp and muggy climatic condition in rainy season makes Mozambique more vulnerable to the disease, one of the main killers particularly for children under five years old in the southeastern African country.
"Before the peak season we did house spraying so that mosquitoes can hardly stay indoors, and we also distributed mosquito nets last year so that people can protect themselves from bites and stings. The intensified education campaigns were conducted as well throughout the period," said Candrinho.
The director emphasized that people need to change their careless behavior and take the prevention measures seriously.
"If we ask anybody how we catch malaria, they know the answer, but if confronted what they do to prevent it, they do nothing. At some point, people are not afraid of malaria because they know they will get treatment from the hospital or health unity, so they easily neglect it," said the director.
The northern Nampula and Zambezia are the country's most vulnerable provinces to malaria, with their large number of population, the climate conditions and humidity.
The director also expressed concern over families that refuse to have their houses sprayed, as the houses can be a center for mosquito breeding, and end up compromising other houses that were sprayed.
On the other hand, the ministry of health saw the fact as a matter for rejoicing that malaria treatment can be found in hospitals and health unities all over the country.
"There are no risks of patients walking into a hospital or health unity and find it without malaria drugs. When the disease cannot be treated it's only because the patients seeks for medical help too late," added the director.
Health authorities are now intensifying the educational campaigns to see if patients can commit to the treatment as recommended, to avoid disease progression and eventually fatalities.
"Bad treatment can lead to death. When the patient has malaria at an early stage and is prescribed a 3-day treatment, normally he will be feeling better in the second day, what happens is that they interrupt treatment after feeling better and this can make the disease become more serious," said the director.
As recommended by the WHO, Mozambique conducts studies every two years to monitor the efficiency of the drugs against malaria, and the latest study indicated that the treatment continued to be efficient and one more study has been scheduled for this year.
Despite the measures taken, the national program still battles for more resources to address one of the country's major concerns in health.
"Resources are hardly enough, there are always gaps. We have established priorities to drugs availability, test for diagnosis but there are deficits to do house spray. So we have to look at those districts with highest vulnerability to spray first," said the director.
Mozambique has been attending regional and world forums against malaria as part of its strategy to cooperate with different stakeholders to battle the disease.
