Malaria Programme Manager of Ministry of Health, Dr. Samuel Smith has said that four out of 10 children that visit the medical centres across the country have malaria. He made this statement during the press briefing yesterday during the launching of Maternal and Child Health Week (MCHW), at Tower Hill.
Dr. Smith said Sierra Leone has one of the highest malaria mortality rates in the world with 156 deaths per 1000 people. He said, in Sierra Leone the region with the highest number of malaria deaths is the north as they accounted for 52%.
“The use of bed nets is one way of preventing malaria and we have been distributing these nets to protect our children and mothers from contracting malaria. In 2010, we distributed 3.2 million nets, in 2014, it was 3.5 million and now in June 2017, we will distribute 4.3 million and the lifespan of these nets is three years so the next distribution will be in 2020.”
The Programme Manager averred that malaria is endemic in Sierra Leone with transmission occurring year-round. Natural immunity to the disease is acquired over time for those living in high malaria transmission areas.
He said children under five are prone to severe malaria infection due to lack of acquired immunity. “For about six months following birth, antibodies acquired from the mother during pregnancy protect the child, but this maternal immunity is gradually lost when the child starts to develop his/her own immunity to malaria.”
Age is an important factor in determining levels of acquired immunity to malaria as acquired immunity does not prevent infection but rather protects against severe disease and death. The pace at which immunity develops depends on the exposure to malarial infection, and in high malaria-endemic areas, children are thought to attain a high level of immunity by their fifth birthday. Such children may experience episodes of malaria illness but usually do not suffer from the severe, life-threatening conditions.
“Malaria transmission in Sierra Leone is stable and adults usually acquire some degree of immunity; however, pregnancy suppresses immunity and women in their first pregnancies are at increased risk for severe malaria. Malaria in pregnancy is frequently associated with the development of anaemia, which interferes with the maternal-foetus exchange and can lead to low-birth-weight infants, placental parasitaemia, foetal death, abortion, stillbirth, and prematurity.”
He called on all to use the nets for its intended purpose and anyone caught using it for fishing or at the goalposts will be punished by law. He said the nets will be distributed nationwide as there will be a point to pick up the voucher which family members will then use to collect the nets.
“Families of one to two members will receive one bed net. Families of three to four will receive two bed nets and families of more than five will receive three. What we want to achieve this time round is one in two Sierra Leoneans should have a bed net as the population of the country if just over seven million and the nets we are distributing are 4.3 million.”
Dr. Smith said the use of this net is highest in children living in the Southern area (56%) and Eastern (59%) regions compared with the Northern Region (40%) and Western Region (26%). A similar pattern exists among pregnant women, which is evident with the highest use in Southern and Eastern regions (61% and 51%) followed by Northern Region (45%) and Western Region (19%).
Friday May 26, 2017.