Alick Nzangaya
Government through the mMinistry of Health has asked journalists in the country to join hands in reducing malaria cases by raising awareness on the need to appropriately use and care for mosquito nets.
This is according to Ministry of Health’s National Coordinator for Malaria vaccine implementation John Sande who was speaking on Wednesday in Blantyre during an orientation session with journalists on mass mosquito net distribution campaign.
Sande said journalists play a crucial role in informing and educating the public on different issues hence the orientation conference which he said was to equip them with knowledge on how they can successfully play their role during this year’s mosquito net distribution campaign.
He added that there is need for journalists to be in the forefront of distributing messages which will encourage the masses to go and get their mosquito nets and use it for it’s intended purpose as the ministry is looking forward to reducing malaria cases which are reportedly on the raise.
“Malaria still remain a very big problem in the country as statistics show that last year the country experienced an increase in number of the cases up to seven million cases and we are so hopeful that this year’s mass mosquito nets distribution will help in reducing the numbers.
“Considering the role that the media plays, we though of engaging them so that they should give the community the right information which will improve the uptake of malaria interventions. We believe we will continue working with them so as to have malaria cases reduced in the country,” said Sande.
Meanwhile, Sande who is also the Disease Control Officer for National Malaria Control Programme, has also urged the general public to refrain from misusing mosquito nets as reports indicate that some are being used for fishing.
“A single mosquito net is costing about 4 to 5 US dollars, so the public should refrain from misusing the nets as that will be a waste of resources and also it puts the country at risk of registering an increase in number of malaria cases,” he added.
According to the ministry, mass distribution of mosquito nets campaign is expected to be launched in Salima on Thursday and 9.2 million mosquito nets are to be distributed however, residents of city boundaries will not benefit from the campaign.
