World Malaria Day - Part Two - Rwanda's Success

by Alanna Shaikh

Published April 26, 2009 @ 11:03AM PT

(phot credit: PSI)

From the Malaria Free Future website, about Rwanda:

As few as five years ago, malaria was the leading cause of death in this country of seven million, with half of those fatalities in children under five. Prior to 2005, there was a modest 30,000 mosquito nets distributed by the national government to protect its citizens against malaria. In 2005 however, the same year Rwanda received its first grant from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, 300,000 bednets were supplied. By the next year, as the new resources went to work, 1.4 million long-lasting insecticide-treated nets (LLINs) were distributed to the country's most vulnerable populations.

From a Rwandan newspaper:

The State Minister in charge of HIV/Aids and Other Infectious Diseases, Dr Innocent Nyaruhirira confirmed the success on Monday.

“It’s true we (Rwanda) have registered over 50 percent reduction in malaria deaths, as a result of our national campaign against all its sources,” he said.

Dr Nyaruhirira pointed to the 2006 nationwide distribution of treated mosquito nets and drugs to children and pregnant mothers as one of the major efforts that have yielded success in the ant-malaria campaign.

He also attributed Rwanda’s success to the Indoor Residual Spray (IRS), using ICON pesticide. The IRS was launched last year in Kigali City and is being extended to the countryside this year...However, Dr Nyaruhirira remarked that the drop in malaria deaths doesn’t mean that Rwanda is free from the risk of the disease since its main cause (mosquitoes) is still at large countrywide.

Lastly, from Roll Back Malaria's Rwanda country profile:

In 2005, 17% of pregnant women slept under an insecticide treated mosquito net. In 2007, it was 60%. In 2005, no pregnant women received prevntative treatment against malaria. In 2007, 65% of pregnant women got it. In 2005, 13% of children slept under insecticide treated nets. In 2007 60%. In 2005, 15% of households had at least one net available. in 2007 54% did.

Those are some pretty amazing numbers; that's a very rapid transition. And those process indicators are backed up by the impact indicators I mentioned about. Rwanda is doing the right things to prevent and treat malaria, and it's working. When I talk about focusing our resources on methods that have been proven to work instead of hunting for the magic bullet, this is what I am talking about.