Namibia recorded 13 691 malaria cases in 2021, according to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Elimination Eight report.
This is 58 more cases than the 13 633 malaria cases reported in Namibia in 2020.
Chairperson of the Faith Leader Advocacy for Malaria Elimination (FLAME) in the Kavango West Region, Michael Hamutenya said this in a statement issued on Wednesday on the occasion of Malaria Day observed on 26 April by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
“Despite steady advances in lowering the global burden of malaria between 2000 and 2015, progress has slowed or stalled in recent years, particularly in high-burden countries in sub-Saharan Africa,” he said.
Hamutenya said while Namibia is not a high-burden malaria country, it continues to face malaria outbreaks and subsequent malaria deaths.
“I think you will agree with me that for a disease that is both preventable and curable, any death is an immense loss to our families, communities and our country as a whole,” he said.
The FLAME chairperson noted that in recent years, malaria control programmes and public health campaigns have achieved major reductions globally in malaria morbidity and mortality.
Hamutenya said if Namibia can re-strategise and work together it can be one of the next countries to eliminate the vector-borne disease.
Strengthened country ownership, he said is essential to the fight against malaria and to achieve elimination, thus government stewardship of malaria responses is essential – together with the engagement and participation of affected communities.
FLAME works closely with the Malaria Elimination Task Force under the Regional AIDS Coordinating Committees of the regional councils and all malaria stakeholders with the aim to amplify the advocacy voice of religious leaders who represent many citizens.
FLAME also addresses the challenge of imperfect policies and insufficient funding to eliminate malaria within target timeframes aligned with the national malaria control programme.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency
