Malaria is known to be endemic throughout Zambia and continues to be a major public health problem. Eighty three percent (83 %) of Zambian population is reported to be living in malaria high risk areas and the remaining 17 percent is reported living in malaria low risk areas. Zambia has a 16 percent malaria national prevalence. Malaria peak transmission periods are usually during the rainy season ? from November to April and the main transmitting vectors are anopheles species; funestus, gambiae and arabiensis. Plasmodium falciparum is the main transmitting parasite accounting for about 98 percent of all malaria infections in the country. Other species of plasmodium that can be found in Zambia are ovale and malariae. The main intervention measures used in the prevention and control of malaria in Zambia are; Indoor Residual spray (IRS), mass distribution of insecticide treated mosquito nets (ITNs) and Intermittent Prevention Treatment (IPT). The main aim of this thesis is to analyze the efficiency and effectiveness of the the current intervention measures used to prevent and control malaria in Zambia. I approached this issue from time the ?roll back malaria ? project was intiated in 1998 up to 2011. With help of the changes introduced to the health sector under the sector wide approach reforms in 1995, the public health approach in the fight against malaria was even much widened. The second aim of my thesis is to offer acceptable alternative interventions that can used in the prevention and control of malaria. In this qualitative type of research, I chose to use secondary analyzation of data as my research method. I obtained much of the information from studying health literature, journals, laws and other online publications, which I found to be relevant to the topic at hand. I also consulted with the Zambian ministry of health through provincial health offices as well as via district health offices. A series of three open research questions was used as a guide to obtaining the much needed data. However, the results revealed that the current intervention measures used in the prevention and control of malaria are efficient and effective. In 2009, Zambia recorded a 66 percent reduction in deaths due to malaria. This success recorded clearly surpasses the target set by the ?roll back malaria? 2006 which was aimed at reducing mortality due to malaria by 50 percent by year 2010. However, parasitemia results still show great variation in prevalence between urban areas and rural. This inequality is also evident in the access to health care as well. There is much need to scale up on intervention measures if a Zambia without malaria is to be achieved. This work can as used as a public health tool in the prevention of malaria in Zambia and also as a road map to future research concerning malaria and public health.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:nusl.cz/oai:invenio.nusl.cz:156406 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | MUBIANA, Nawa |
| Source Sets | Czech ETDs |
| Language | Czech |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/masterThesis |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess |
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