SOUTHERN AFRICA: WHO alerts high risk malaria

The world health body has therefore asked travellers to malaria-prone countries in the region to take preventive treatment before they travel.”Malaria transmission levels from November 2007 to May 2008 are expected to be above normal in most parts of Southern Africa,” WHO said.”In East Africa, the period from October to May constitutes an important part of the rainy season whereby malaria transmission and epidemics can occur,” it said, adding that in Southern Africa, the heavy rains and likelihood of flooding in certain areas from December on have a possibility of increasing the risk of malaria transmission in many the region. Angola, Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia and Madagascar are among the highest risk malaria countries. But travellers to countries with season malaria – Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Swaziland, Uganda, Kenya and Eritrea – are also advised to take preventive malaria treatment. Malaria – a disease caused by mosquito – is a major public health disease that kills an average of 4000,000 annually in Southern African region. Africa limps with 80% of the world’s malaria burden. In 2006, South Africa joined the countries that supported and continued to use dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT) to address malaria in three of its affected provinces – KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and Mpumalanga. This had led to the significant reduction of malaria cases in the country.