The Malaria death toll continues to rise in Mozambique, health authorities said on Friday.
According to the health ministry’s weekly Epidemiology bulletin published on Tuesday, 96 people died from the disease this week compared to 64 from the previous week.
The bulletin, however, said reported cases of the disease had decreased from 128 736 to 122 554 during the same period.
The government is now using DDT to combat the breeding of mosquitoes.
In an interview published in the daily Noticias on Friday, the ministry’s spokesperson Martinho Dgedge said ”rapid tests” were being used to diagnose patients who have symptoms of the disease in all the health centres in the country.
He said this had shown positive results.
”The tests assisted health practitioners to effectively determine if a patient has malaria or not,” said Dgedge.
However, with the lack of laboratories in most of the country’s health units, nurses had to rely on the symptoms of a patient to determine the extent of the disease, he said.
To celebrate Africa Malaria Day, which is commemorated on April 25, Mozambican authorities have chosen the Mocuba district in Zambezia province — which has one of the highest incidents of malaria — as the venue for this year’s celebration.
According to Unicef, malaria in Mozambique is the primary cause of ill health, accounting for 40% of out-patient consultations, 60% of paediatric in-patients and a third of hospital deaths. – Sapa