Members have been urged to be cooperative with health workers and also work as a collective towards the fight against Malaria, which has since skyrocketed in some parts of the country.
Addressing residents of Maun recently, assistant Minister of Health, Lawrence Ookeditse urged to be cooperative and hold hands together in the fight against Malaria in areas of Ngami, Okavango, Chobe, Tutume and Ghanzi which continues to grapple with the cases.
Giving a status update on the Malaria cases, Ookeditse revealed that 1317 cases have been registered in Okavango region, 172 in Ngamiland, 130 in Chobe, 64 in Ghanzi, 62 in Tutume and 34 in Boteti. He further indicated that 8 deaths have also been recorded as a result of Malaria.
The assistant minister said the worsening situation is indicative of the need precautions to be taken than before to help deal with the cases. He noted that there is a possibility of rising statistics in the areas highly affected if prevention measures are not taken.
Ookeditse has since encouraged the public to allow the Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) teams into their houses and also use the mosquito nets during their sleep at night. This as the spike in the numbers of malaria cases have also been linked to the rejection by members of the public to allow for IRS and the misuse of mosquito nets provided by the government.
Residents were further urged to avoid keeping stagnant water around their homes and also advised to report any Malaria symptoms at the nearest health facility.
However, the Boseja North Village Development Committee (VDC) chairperson, Kegomoditswe Ndulamo has complained that they used to be allocated mosquito nets frequently, but nowadays they do not receive any. She added that spraying was also done frequently in every household about 3 years ago but things seem to have since changed. Ndulamo has since pleaded for the services to be brought back to reduce the numbers of Malaria cases.
Boseja ward resident Otshotswe Thabare also argued that not many people refuse to have their homes sprayed. He is of the view that provision of mosquito nets and application of IRS should have been done prior to the rainy season as that would have helped prevent the spread of Malaria. He added that, they have also observed that health officials only come to their homes for contact tracing but never bring along nets that can help fight Malaria
Botswana has been experiencing an upsurge in malaria cases after the outbreak started in Okavango and spread to other districts including Ngami, Ghanzi, Chobe, Tutume and Boteti. There have also been reports of malaria cases in non-endemic areas such as Ghanzi, Serowe, Francistown, Gaborone and Mahalapye. The surge in cases is attributed to the recent heavy rains, which have created favourable conditions for mosquito breaking which perpetuates malaria transmission.
