Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki on Tuesday launched a countrywide programme to combat malaria, the top killer of pregnant women and children under the age of five in the East African nation.
The national malaria programme, financed by the United Nations Global Fund to fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, includes distribution of free insecticide-treated nets, treatment and developing strategies to combat the disease.
Of about $186-million requested by the Kenyan government and approved by the fund, about $82-million has been disbursed to support the implementation of anti-malaria programmes.
Malaria is responsible for the deaths of about 34 000 Kenyan children a year and accounts for 30% to 50% of outpatient visits and 20% of all hospital admissions in the country, according to official statistics.
In addition, the disease causes the loss of up to 170-million working days in Kenya each year, and the president said he is determined to bring all of these numbers down.
”From the economic point of view, malaria is a serious hindrance to increased economic productivity,” he said a ceremony to launch the new drive in the town of Homabay in western Kenya, one of the country’s most malaria-prone regions.
”As a government, we are committed to reversing this trend,” Kibaki said, noting that his administration has already lifted taxes and other tariffs on the sale of mosquito nets.
About 20-million of Kenya’s about 32-million people are at risk of contracting the mosquito-born disease. — Sapa-AFP