The government of Cameroon is in the process of setting up the Council and National Fund for the elimination of malaria, the Minister of Public Health Dr Malachie Manaouda has announced.

The Minister made the announcement at the weekend as Cameroon joined the rest of the world to commemorate the 14 edition of the World Malaria Day.

Commemorated under the theme “Zero malaria-Draw the line against malaria”, the Minister of Public Health spoke out on this endemic disease, highlighting the actions taken by the Government so far.

In addition to the determination to reduce malaria-related morbidity and mortality by at least 60% by 2023, there is also the adoption of the “High Burden to High Impact” approach recommended by the World Health Organisation, with a view to implementing specific actions adapted to the epidemiology and entomology of each geographical area and to seek the greatest impact in the areas where the incidence is the most marked.

In addition, there has been the intensification of communication to compensate for the late or low attendance of prenatal consultation services.

Thus, activities to commemorate the day were launched in Mbalmayo, Centre Region where the Inspector General of Administrative Services, Representative of the Minister of Public Health, visited several health facilities in the city.

The visit was aimed at assessing the quality of laboratory services offered as well as the office equipment, the layout and organization of hospital rooms, prenatal consultation, childbirth and vaccination.

During the visit at integrated health centers, pregnant women were given long-lasting impregnated mosquito nets (Milda).

Immediately, they also benefited from doses of Intermittent Preventive Treatment (IPT) against malaria and were counseled on the importance of antenatal visits, respecting the frequency of IPT in malaria and the need to sleep under a treated mosquito net.

At another health centre, there was the demonstration on the use and installation of treated mosquito nets with community leaders actively involved in the process.

According to statistics, over 2,6 million cases of malaria were reported in the past year and unfortunately 4,121 have died from the disease, mostly children under the age of five. Statistics equally show that out of ten patients who came into consultation, three patients had malaria.

According to Ronny Bengono District Health Officer of Mbalmayo, the malaria prevalence rate stands around 50 percent in the locality.