Doubling National Efforts to Control and Eliminate Malaria in Zambia
Abstract
In 2009, Zambia received accolades of praise from the World Health Organization (WHO) for demonstrating 66% decline in malaria deaths and there was a clear indication, then, that the country had reached the 2010 Roll Back Malaria target of a more than 50% reduction in malaria mortality compared to the 2000 baselines of malaria morbidity and mortality (1,2). As a result of this achievement, during that year's World Malaria Day commemoration held on 25 April 2009, Zambia's efforts and achievement were celebrated and promoted as a model for other countries to follow. This remarkable achievement was attributed to the country's multi-front approach to control and case management of malaria involving mass use of long-lasting insecticide-treated mosquito nets (LLITNs), scale-up of indoor residue spraying (IRS) and effective case management of malaria by the introduction of artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) for the treatment of uncomplicated malaria. However, barely four years down the line, these achievements seem to be slipping away. What has gone wrong? Can this seeming slump in national malaria control activities be corrected and if so how? This editorial of the current issue of JABS attempts to address these vexing questions by giving a snap review of the national and world-wide scored successes in malaria control activities, lessons learnt and thereby charting an evidence-based way forward.References
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18. Foege B. Address at the Commemoration of 30 years of Freedom from Smallpox, WHO/SEARO, New Delhi, 31 July 2009. Available from: http://www.searo.who.int/linkFiles/Smallpox_presentat ion_Bill_Foege_pdf. [Last accessed on 2011 Apr 24].
2. WHO. Roll Back Malaria Progress & Impact Series Country Reports (Number 2-April 2011); Focus on Zambia/Eric Mouzin, et al. ISBN9789241501194 (NLM classification:WC765)
3. WHO (1969) Re-examination of the global strategy of malaria eradication. Twenty-second World Health Assembly, Part I. WHO official records number 176, annex13.Geneva:WHO. pp106–26
4. Pampana E (1969) A textbook of malaria eradication. 2nd edition. London, New York, Toronto: Oxford University Press. pp 5–6.
5. Macdonald G (1957) The epidemiology and control of malaria. London: Oxford University Press.
6. MacDonald G (1956) Epidemiological basis of malaria control. Bull World Health Organ 15: 613–626.
7. WHO. Roll Back Malaria Progress & Impact Series (Number 8-October 2011; eliminating malaria: Learning F r o m t h e P a s t , L o o k i n g a h e a d . I S B N 9789241502504(NLM classification:WC765)
8. Narain JP. Eradicating and eliminating infectious diseases: past, present and future. Indian J Public Health. 2011 Apr-Jun;55(2):81-7. doi: 10.4103/0019-557X.85236.
9. Dowdle WR. The principles of disease elimination and eradication. Bull World Health Organ 1998;76 Suppl 2:23-5.
10. WHO. Global Disease Elimination and Eradication as Public Health strategies. Bull World Health Organ 1998;76 (suppl 2):1-162.
11. Nájera JA, González-Silva M, Alonso PL. Some lessons for the future from the Global Malaria Eradication Programme (1955-1969). PLoS Med. 2011 Jan 25;8(1):e1000412. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.100041
12. Diouf G, Kpanyen PN, Tokpa AF, Nie S. Changing landscape of malaria in China: progress and feasibility of malaria elimination. Asia Pac J Public Health. 2014
Jan;26(1):93-100. doi: 10.1177/1010539511424594. Epub 2011 Nov 14.
13. Herrera S, Quiñones ML, Quintero JP, Corredor V, Fuller DO, Mateus JC, Calzada JE, Gutierrez JB, LlanosA, Soto E, Menendez C,WuY,Alonso P, Carrasquilla G, Galinski
M, Beier JC, Arévalo-Herrera M. Prospects for malaria elimination in non-Amazonian regions of Latin America. Acta Trop. 2012 Mar;121(3):315-23. doi: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2011.06.018. Epub2011Jul14.
14. Boyd MF .Malaria: Retrospect and prospect. Am J Trop Med Hyg1939; 19:1–6.
15. Na´jera JA (2001) Malaria control: achievements, problems and strategies. Parassitologia 43:1–89.
16. WHO (1973) Malaria. Handbook of resolutions and decisions of the World Health Assembly and the Executive Board. Volume I, 1948–1972, 1st to 25th WHA and 1st to 50th EB. Geneva: World Health Organization. pp 66–8
17. Watts TE, Wray JR, Ng'andu NH, Draper CC. Malaria in an Urban and Rural area of Zambia. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 1990;84(2):196-200
18. Foege B. Address at the Commemoration of 30 years of Freedom from Smallpox, WHO/SEARO, New Delhi, 31 July 2009. Available from: http://www.searo.who.int/linkFiles/Smallpox_presentat ion_Bill_Foege_pdf. [Last accessed on 2011 Apr 24].
Published
2014-03-31
How to Cite
1.
Chipeta J, Mutengo M, Kamuliwo M. Doubling National Efforts to Control and Eliminate Malaria in Zambia. Journal of Agricultural and Biomedical Sciences [Internet]. 31Mar.2014 [cited 4Aug.2025];2(1):1-. Available from: https://journals.unza.zm/index.php/JABS/article/view/340
Section
Biomedical Sciences
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