World Vision Malawi says it projects to spray about 139,949 dwelling structures in Balaka District in the 2023 Indoor Residue Spray (IRS) campaign covering a population of about 470 thousand people.
The organization’s project Officer in the district, Master Chitabwino, says in this year’s campaign, the organisation intends to reach an 85% spray coverage, in a bid to help Government reduce the Malaria incident rate in the District.
Chitabwino made the remarks during a stakeholders engagement meeting which brought together various key stakeholders in the District to bang heads on the implementation of the program.
According to Chitabwino, in 2022, the campaign registered high rates of refusal in some sites, citing that some community members were adamant for their households to be sprayed due to myths surrounding the program.
He has since called for concerted efforts from various stakeholders to curb the vice.
”There is a need for key players in the program, including cultural influencers, traditional and faith leaders to actively join hands in scaling up awareness on the importance of the program,” said Chitabwino.
In the 2023 campaign, World Vision intends to use Fluodura Fusion insecticide as compared to to Actellic E 300 used in the previous campaign.This, according to Chitabwino, is a recommendation from the World Health Organization which advises for a rotational of insecticides as the continued usage of a single type of insecticides may lead to mosquitoes developing resistance, which may hamper the effectiveness of the program.
On his part, Balaka District Environmental Health Officer (DEHO), Blessings Chitsime, says the program has over the years contributed to the drop of Malaria incidence rate in the District, commending World Vision for the support.
IRS is a process of spraying the inside of dwellings with an insecticide to kill Mosquitoes that spread Malaria.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the process is one of the primary means of controlling the spread of the disease.
The WHO reports that Malaria continues to be one of the major diseases contributing to deaths of people in the sub-Saharan Africa Region, Malawi inclusive.
In Malawi, World Vision is implementing the program with financial support from the Global Fund, targeting Malaria hotspot districts of Balaka, Mangochi and Nkhata Bay.
Follow us on Twitter:
