MALARIA remains a major public health and development challenge in Zambia and is now considered to be an emerging health problem affecting the continent of Africa.
Following the unprecedented heavy rains this rainy season, malaria cases are expected to escalate than the previous years due to flood waters that will remain stagnant and become a healthy breeding site for mosquitoes.
Areas like Lusaka that are still reeling from the effects of the floods are home to quarries that have filled up with water right in the middle of high density townships.
Urban malaria should be seen as a specific public health issue and assessment, understanding and control should not simply reproduce initiatives taken in rural and urban communities.
In addition to the direct health impact of malaria, there is also a severe social and economic burden on our communities and country as a whole, but especially on those vulnerable individuals and households that are also trying to cope with the effects of HIV/AIDS.
According to latest statistics, malaria currently accounts for nearly four million clinically diagnosed cases per year, 36 per cent of hospital admissions and outpatient department visits, and from one previous study at University Teaching Hospital, up to 20 per cent of maternal mortality.
http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/201004070559.html
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