The
reduction of malaria in the Upper River Region is due to the strengthening of
cross-border health surveillance system with Senegal, said Lamin Ceesay,
regional health director in the Upper River Region.
“The
situation of malaria in the region has gone down drastically due to several
intervention strategies such as Indoor Residue Spraying (IRS) and Seasonal
Malaria Chemo Prevalence (SMC),” the regional director said in an exclusive
interview with The Point at his office in Basse.
Mr
Ceesay said the vulnerable groups to malaria infection are pregnant women and
children under the age of five.
He
further said that plans are underway to ensure the distribution of bed nets and
SMC campaign in the eastern part of the country.
In
URR, according to a case study conducted in 2010/2011, malaria prevalence was
at 4.4 per cent but a further study in 2014 showed that it has reduced to 0.1
per cent.
Ceesay
said the reduction could be due to the fact that a lot of efforts were
employed, besides IRS and SMC, in the control and prevention of malaria.
The
other efforts, he said, included environmental management, surveillance, case
management, and administration of 3 IPT to pregnant women to prevent the
severity of malaria.
“The
Gambia is going to be the first country in the continent to eliminate malaria
from its shores,” he said as recent research reports indicate that the country
is progressing towards the elimination stage of malaria.
The
URR regional health director however said the successes registered by The
Gambia could not have been achieved without the support of partners such as The
Global Fund, Catholic Relief Service, and The Gambia government amongst others.
