Thu, 27 Apr 2017 11:26:36 +0000
By JUSTINA MULENGA
GOVERNMENT is committed to speeding up progress towards meeting the global target of eliminating malaria with cooperating partners by 2021, President Edgar Lungu has said.
The President was speaking through the Minister of Health Dr. Chitalu Chilufya who represented him during the commemoration of World Malaria Day under the theme ‘‘Malaria ends with me’’ in Lusaka yesterday.
President Lungu said that all partners involved in the fight against malaria should fund the development, evaluation and deployment of new tools in malaria elimination.
“Robust investment in malaria elimination and in new tools will propel our country along the path to elimination while also contributing to other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as improving maternal and child health,” he said.
The President said that his Government had also allocated resources to malaria elimination programmes through the responsible health officers to ensure that the resources were made available to the important cause.
He said that Government had scaled up training of community health workers at community level to test and treat for malaria promptly and appropriately.
The President said that Government also had plans to scale up implementation of the mass drug administration for malaria in 2017.
“Government will distribute free insecticide treated nets and indoor spraying which will target 100 percent of all eligible structures,’’ he said.
He said that over one million insecticide treated nets will be distributed freely all across Zambia.
President Lungu said that Government had established the National Malaria Elimination Strategic Plan 2017 to 2021, which will guide the national malaria elimination efforts in Zambia.
He said that one of the goals of the strategic plan was to eliminate local malaria infection and disease in Zambia by 2021.
Meanwhile, some of the cooperating partners in the fight against the elimination of malaria such as USAID and United Nations said that they were ready to partner with Government to eliminate malaria by the year 2021.
