World Malaria Day was celebrated on April 25 at a time when the World Health Organization (WHO) warns of the urgent need to aggressively combat the new coronavirus while ensuring that other deadly diseases such as malaria are not neglected.
The date serves to mobilize policy-makers and civil society in collective efforts to eradicate malaria. This year, the date is celebrated under the theme “Reaching the zero-malaria target”, which aims to make known the harmful effects of this disease in people’s lives.
In Mozambique, malaria is still a major public health problem, with pregnant women and children under 5 being the main victims. This disease continues to be the leading cause of death among children in the country.
As part of efforts to combat the disease, ADPP, through its projects, distributed 1,338,891 mosquito nets in 2020 in an initiative aimed primarily at reducing cases of the disease.
Alongside the distribution of nets, ADPP and its partners have been implementing community responses aimed at raising awareness and preventing malaria through vector breeding control in the most disadvantaged communities.
As a result of awareness campaigns involving 14,238 volunteers, still in the reporting period, 572,437 people were reached with malaria prevention messages during the campaigns carried out. Also, 1,807.31 malaria cases were tested and treated.
It should be noted that ADPP has been strengthening community responses to the elimination of malaria through awareness raising and education, for healthy behaviors such as consistent use of mosquito nets, generation of demand for quality services, control of vector breeding, special protection for pregnant women and young children.