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Rwanda on Tuesday marked World Malaria Day with a call on residents to implement preventive measures against the disease.
The day, marked under the theme “Zero Malaria Starts with Me, Time to innovate, focus and implement,” featured an exhibition of innovative mechanisms adopted to fight malaria in the country such as drones used in spraying mosquito breeding grounds.
“To prevent malaria infection, we need to sleep under treated mosquito bed nets, erase stagnant waters around our homes, clear bushes and seek timely treatment whenever one feels the malaria symptoms,” said Dancille Nyirarugero, governor of Rwanda’s Northern Province, at the national event in Gicumbi district, northern Rwanda.
Between 2018 and 2022 there was a 76 percent decline in malaria disease in Rwanda. Simple cases reduced from 3.97 million to 998,811, severe cases of malaria from 7,054 to 1,831, while malaria-related deaths went down from 272 to 71, according to the data.
The Rwanda Biomedical Center attributes the decline to early diagnosis and treatment of malaria at the community level, at which more than half of all malaria cases were treated.
Gallican Rwibasira, who represented the Rwandan Health Ministry, said the government remains committed to working closely with residents to end malaria through investment in evidence-based interventions and innovative approaches.
“The success of combating malaria in Rwanda is extraordinary: from 2018 to 2022 there was a reduction of malaria of 76 percent, which has never been achieved in any other country,” Robin Martz, the health office director at the USAID Rwanda said at the event. “Investments in malaria prevention and treatment tools, along with the training and equipping of health workers, have advanced Rwanda’s progress against the disease while strengthening the country’s health system.”
Martz said countries such as Rwanda are using proven and cost-effective methods to keep people safe from malaria and help families forge a healthier and more prosperous future.
Malaria kills roughly 600,000 people globally each year, and sickens more than 200 million people, according to the World Health Organization. Enditem
