AFRICA/MOZAMBIQUE - In 2006 malaria affected about six million people and killed almost 5.000, mostly pregnant women and children aged 2-9. Government raises alarm

Friday, 27 April 2007

Maputo (Agenzia Fides) - The government of Mozambique, one of the countries most affected by malaria, said that last year cases of malaria increased by 15% compared with 2005 and that the fight against the disease is ever more difficult.
Information issued on African Malaria Day said that six million cases were registered last year in Mozambique.
Rev. Dinis Sengulane a member of an NGO which is fighting malaria said “poverty has not diminished and malaria continues to spread so it can be considered a poverty related disease”.
The priest said the international community must help fight malaria “which is a global threat and affects not only Mozambique”. “Foreigners who come to Africa may contract malaria and then return home and die ”, he added.
Mozambique is one of the world's poorest countries where 78% of the people live on less than 2 dollars a day.
A report issued by Mozambique's National Plan to Fight Malaria said that with AIDS, malaria is the main cause of mortality in hospitals and is responsible for almost 30% of deaths in the country. It also stated that in 2006 malaria killed almost 5,000 Mozambicans mainly pregnant mothers and children aged 2 to 9. Th figure is higher than those reported for previous years.
Every day 3,000 of the world's children die and 80% of the cases are registered in sub-Saharan Africa. The International red Cross and the Red Crescent announced that despite progress made, malaria continues to kill one million people every year, 90% in Africa, and they are mainly children. In 2006, the distribution in Africa of mosquito nets treated with insecticide protected about 22,000 children under the age of five.
(AP) (27/4/2007 Agenzia Fides; Righe:31; Parole:404)


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