Elimination &Surveillance &Vector Control Bill Brieger | 17 Apr 2020 07:20 am
A look at Botswana from WHO’s E-2020 country brief
Botswana is one of a handful of countries in Southern Africa that are nearing malaria elimination targets. The information below is extracted from WHO’s Elimination 2020 program site and shared verbatim.
“Botswana has made impressive progress in reducing indigenous malaria transmission, from a reported 71 000 cases in 2000 to 533 in 2018. Despite significant variation from year to year – with a higher number of malaria cases in 2014, 2016 and 2017 – the country has continued to report an overall decline in both cases and deaths since 2000.
“Challenges faced by Botswana’s national malaria control programme include the perception, in some communities, that malaria is a low priority disease, which can lead to people not protecting themselves with insecticide-treated nets and other WHO-recommended prevention measures. Added to this, some residents do not accept vector control activities such as insecticide spraying inside homes. However, the government’s commitment to eliminate malaria remains strong.
“WHO lists the following Successes in Botswana and the accompanying graph confirms the overall drop, despite some increases:
- 69% decrease in number of reported malaria cases following outbreaks in 2014, 2016 and 2017;
- all districts using District Health Information Software 2 (DHIS2) for real-time malaria reporting
mapping of all malaria cases at household level and stratification at village level- adoption of the Community Acting Together to Eliminate Malaria (CATTEM) approach
enhanced community monitoring in malarious districts by malaria surveillance agents”
Hopefully with geographical and epidemiological targeting and attention to early warnings about climate change, Botswana can be among the next group of countries achieving malaria elimination.