According to a latest report by World Health Organization on Malaria, 263 million cases of the disease were reported and 597,000 deaths worldwide in 2023.
Africa, Kenya shared a huge number of the deaths with 95% of them having occurred in the continent. The report also showed an increase in the cases from the previous year (2022) of about 11 million new cases and nearly the same number of deaths.
Speaking to Baraka FM during Jukwaa La Utafiti program, KEMRI-Wellcome Trust researchers provided insights on why Malaria Vector Surveillance and control (MVSC) has not fully attained success and made Kenya a Malaria free country.
MVSC is a crucial research process in the fight against Malaria. It entails the surveillance of mosquito population to enhance understanding of their environmental interactions and to evaluate the efficiency of existing vector control measures.
Caroline Wanjiku explained that limited and inappropriate use of control and prevention tools such as insecticide-treated mosquito nets and indoor spraying insecticide have contributed to it.
“These tools have been used for a long time and sometime not properly, making mosquitoes become resistant, not affected by the measures and changed their traits. They now bite in the daytime compared to before where it was in the evening. We have also seen new behavior of mosquitoes that enter the house, bite and immediately leave for outside so as not to have contact with the pesticide or any other tool the homestead is using,” said Wanjiku.
Research institutions like KEMRI-Wellcome Trust require stable financial input to conduct various essential programs and Caroline pointed out that financial resources are not always available.
She also identified climate change as a key challenge in the field saying it contributes to the increasing number of new cases as mosquitoes have adapted to high temperatures and thrive during excessive rains.
Gabriel Nzai, a field researcher at KEMRI-Wellcome Trust highlighted the need for more community sensitization on research matters saying people have certain beliefs that sometime hinder successful completion of research process.
“Through radio and other programs we try to create more understanding of what we do. Sometimes you tell them you’re laying mosquito traps and they say you’ve brought a bomb. At times they say medicine given out to prevent certain diseases is a trick to have them take family planning pills,” said Nzai.
He added that the community is always involved in these programs as the institutions first explains the project to administrative officials then moves to seminars with village heads, area population before laying final details to the research satellite.
Meanwhile, Wanjiku and Nzai outlined various success stories of the MVSC such as fewer cases of malaria in children below the age of five, yellow plague, elephantiasis and hydrocele prevention medication and recently discovered antiparasitic drug Ivermectin that can be used to kill bedbugs.
