KwaZulu-Natal's successful fight against malaria (2)
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Dear Colleagues
In my last post I was going to make reference to the success in
Southern Africa based on feedback I have been seeing going back
to 1999.
Note the wording carefully in the two following extracts:
1......... "the introduction of an antimalarial combination
called artemether-lumefantrine (AL) and the partial reintroduc-
tion of the insecticide DDT."
2......... "AL was introduced to the area in 2000 alongside an
intensified effort to control mosquitoes with insecticides. Re-
viewing data from four health care facilities representative of
the province, the researchers found that admissions for malaria
had declined by 89% in the year following the changes. By 2003
the decline in malaria had been sustained throughout the prov-
ince: outpatient cases fell by 99% and malaria-related deaths
had decreased by 97%."
I do not want to give all the credit to either the use of insec-
ticides including DDT, nor the introduction of AL... my pre-
disposition based on the life cycle of the parasite is to sug-
gest that they are BOTH needed. The readings I have from a lit-
tle time back suggest that it is the DDT and other insecticides
that were the bigger factors in cutting back on the growing ma-
laria crisis... and I would be curious to understand more
clearly about the importance of a COMBINED approach.
Sincerely,
Peter Burgess
Tr-Ac-Net in New York
Tel. +1-212 772 6918
mailto:peterbnyc@gmail.com
The Transparency and Accountability Network
With Kris Dev in Chennai India
and others in South Asia, Africa and Latin America
http://tr-ac-net.blogspot.com
http://www.tr-ac-net.org