The malaria infection rate in Kwale is still high despite dropping from 10.6 per cent to 8.5 per cent, county health executive Francis Gwama has said.
Gwama said a lot has to be done as the county has performed poorly in battling the disease.
Speaking during an interview, he said the county has, however, made significant strides in tackling the disease.
He said more people have adopted the use of treated mosquito nets.
“We are not yet free from malaria and we have done little but we are working towards battling it,” he said.
Gwama said last year that a surge in malaria deaths was witnessed in parts of the region and they most likely prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Many locals had completely abandoned the hospitals due to fear of contracting or isolated on suspicion of suffering from the virus,” he said.
According to the World Health Organization malaria’s annual death toll stands at over 400, 000 with two-thirds of the cases being children below five years from Africa.
Kwale is one of the Malaria high-risk counties in Kenya.
Others include; Mombasa, Kilifi, Kisumu, Lamu, Tana River, Migori.
Malaria is caused by the Anopheles female mosquito and is more common during rainy seasons.
The dominant malaria vector species groups in Kwale, Kilifi and Mombasa are Anopheles gambiae and funestus.
On Sunday the Ministry of Health announced that Malaria prevalence dropped to 5.6 per cent from 8 per cent in the last five years in Kenya.
Currently, the national government has launched the distribution exercise of 15.7 million insecticide-treated nets to high risks counties to help flatten the Malaria infection and death curve.
At least 25 million Kenyans are targeted.
Gwama urged the residents to embrace the initiative and comply towards achieving zero malaria infections and fatalities.
“We are going to win this battle if each one of us takes a personal responsibility, ” he said.
He urged residents to use the nets correctly and for intended purposes as the rainy season approaches.
Some years back, a section of the coastal people alleged that government free nets used to give them bad dreams.
The majority instead used the sleeping nets for fishing, creating greenhouses and rearing chicks while others threw them.
Gwama said sensitization campaigns have already kicked off to educate the residents on the importance of immunizing children against Malaria and the use of well-treated mosquito nets.
In Mombasa, over 700,000 nets are expected to be distributed.
The county has also produced positive results in the war against Malaria over the past years.
According to the county public health director Salma Swaleh, Mombasa has managed to de-escalate Malaria cases from 50, 000 in 2018, to 35, 000 in 2019 and 27, 000 last year.
In 2018 Governor Hassan Joho launched the 'Eliminate Malaria from Mombasa island campaign.
It included intensifying the distribution of mosquito nets to pregnant women and children, treating and clearing mosquito breeding grounds.
Another way was prompt diagnosis and treatment of positive cases and enhancing behaviour change communication in healthcare facilities by medical practitioners.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris