Latest update April 11th, 2025 5:25 AM
Millions invested by Govt. last year to fight malaria
Vector Control workers at work
As part of its strategic effort to combat the ever prevailing threat of malaria, Government was able to invest some $400 million into the Vector Control Services Unit of the Ministry of Health to combat the mosquito borne disease last year.
This sizeable investment was one that catered to, among other things, the procurement of high quality medications to treat persons infected with the disease and Long Lasting Insecticidal Nets to help protect persons from the virus.
Without detailing the quantities of the procurements, as these will have to be examined ahead of an accurate disclosure, Dr Rahman noted that the work plugged into malaria last year yielded immense results.
This is in light of the fact, that fighting the disease has always been an especially tedious task for those within the Vector Control Department. According to Dr Reyaud Rahman, Director of Vector Control Services, work in this regard sometimes requires accessing some of the most treacherous terrains of Regions One, Seven, Eight and Nine.
He however noted that the efforts to diagnose, treat and offer preventative measures, such as treated bed nets, do not only cater to tackling the malaria challenge but rather, other vector borne diseases can be simultaneously dealt with.
“So even though we invested an amount to fight malaria alone, the (treated) nets for instance will also destroy mosquitoes or other insects that can transmit other diseases too.
It will keep away bugs (Triatomine bugs) that cause Chagas disease, and even sand flies and mosquitoes it can keep away,” said Dr Rahman of the nets that are distributed in abundance by the Health Ministry, particularly in the interior locations where vector borne diseases like malaria are prevalent.
Moreover, he noted that investing in malaria is in fact a “great investment” as the end result is a reduction in multiple vector borne diseases.
Nevertheless, the Vector Control Director underscored that malaria was in fact a primary focus during the past year despite several distractions faced including an outbreak of the Chikungunya Virus.
He disclosed during an interview with this publication, that the impact of that outbreak saw the Ministry having to divert a great deal of its manpower but insisted that “we were able to still focus and concentrate on malaria control.”
According to him, from early on it was recognised that there was a need to augment the work aimed at bringing down the number of malaria cases which over the past two years stood at some 30,000 cases.
In order to help bring the numbers down, Dr Rahman, who boasted that 2014 was a good year for Vector Control, noted that his Unit adopted an approach that saw Vector Control officers, himself included at times, going into the fields to physically find the cases and ensure that measures were in place to reduce the numbers.
This meant that the Vector Control Officers attached to Central Ministry, together with regional officers, tracked each individual case in mining, logging and other vulnerable locations and not only highlighted the importance of protective measures such as the consistent use of treated nets but also made sure that they only had access to high quality medications.
In fact he disclosed that earnest efforts were made to ensure that all health facilities had adequate amounts of drugs and that persons were diagnosed and treated in a timely fashion.
“All this we found was a significant way of ensuring that we stopped transmission and invariably decrease our cases…” said Dr Rahman who noted that these efforts were not done without sensitisation sessions and the creation of health clubs that could help to sustain efforts at educating the populations in endemic areas.
The fight against malaria during the past year also entailed fogging and spraying of some areas, informed Dr Rahman, who added that a few months shy of the culmination of last year, the Ministry was able to record an almost 50 per cent dip in malaria cases.
“We still have to factor in a few weeks, so the figures we have right now are unconfirmed for last year…we however know that so far we have cut the cases in half…we have seen our efforts bear fruits basically,” asserted the Vector Control Director.
But achieving this auspicious goal was not without the support of a number of partner agencies including the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development and the Guyana Defence Force, according to Dr Rahman, as he spoke of his ambitious intentions to do whatever is necessary to sustain and even better the gains of 2014.
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