Ethiopia will expand malaria control efforts

23 Mar 2009

Paul Chinnock

Source: Voice of America (see original article)
Source: World Bank (see original article)
Source: Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (see original article)

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Ethiopia’s Health Minister Dr Twodros Adhanon says Ethiopia has been placed on high alert for a major malaria outbreak. Experience has shown that malaria cases in the country hit peak levels once every five to eight years. The last such year was 2003 and so another could be due this year. Ethiopia is determined to be ready should there be a surge in case numbers.

Malaria is seasonal in Ethiopia coming after the beginning of the rainy season. September and October are usually the months that see the highest number of cases. Will there be more than usual this year? The head of USAID’s malaria programme in Ethiopia, Richard Reithinger, says only time will tell, but if it is an epidemic year then some 10 million cases could be expected. In 2003 there were more, though no one knows how many people died.

Dr Adhanon said: “We have deployed 30,000 health extension workers over the country, civil servants, high school graduates with one year certificate training out in the village to train and empower our communities”. Hospitals are also being put on alert and, meanwhile, the country continues with its ambitious programme to distribute 20 million insecticide-treated bednets. A report from the Voice of American includes a video describing Ethiopia’s plans to cope with a major outbreak.

The World Bank last year commended Ethiopia for good level of progress it had made against malaria since scaling up control efforts in 2005. The Bank says Ethiopia has “put malaria control at the heart of its health sector strategy”.

Reference laboratory for Africa

Dr Adhanom has also announced, at a press conference in Addis Ababa, the opening of a reference laboratory for the evaluation of rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) for malaria. The testing centre, to be housed at the Ethiopian Health and Nutrition Research Institute (EHNRI), will join two other centres, one in Cambodia and the other in the Philippines, in a global network of laboratories designated by World Health Organization and the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics. The laboratories allow countries that have procured malaria RDTs for use in the public sector to evaluate their quality and performance before they are distributed.

RDTs for malaria, developed over a decade ago, have been increasingly used in place of more cumbersome microscopy or less accurate syndromic management in remote areas where malaria is common. However, it is obviously crucial that only RDTs that have been shown to be reliable are used.

Dr Giorgio Roscigno, Chief Executive Officer of FIND, said “We are very proud to be associated with WHO, EHNRI and the Government of Ethiopia in the establishment of a state-of-the-art laboratory in Addis Ababa which will support quality assured rapid diagnostic tests that are critical in the control of the disease in African countries. This laboratory will serve all of the African continent and will adhere to rigorous quality control in the support of these tests.”