. Chilufya

By STEPHANIE KUNDA  –
PRESIDENT Edgar Lungu’s malaria elimination agenda has garnered international support, Health Minister Chitalu Chilufya has said.
Dr Chilufya said President Lungu’s legacy on malaria elimination, whose international support is overwhelming, will contribute significantly to the fight against malaria.
Dr Chilufya said this yesterday when he delivered a keynote address at the Seventh International Congress of the Society for Vector Ecology in Palma, Spain.
This is according to a statement issued yesterday by Ministry of Health head of communications and external affairs Stanslous Ngosa.
Dr Chilufya thanked the US, the Global fund, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for the support in the legacy defining war against malaria.
He said President Lungu made a strategic shift in the fight against malaria moving from malaria control to focusing on elimination.
“This is part of the broader agenda to strengthen health systems and expand access to health, moving towards universal health coverage,” Dr Chilufya said.
Meanwhile, prominent global Coating Company, Kansai Paints has partnered with the ministry to conduct trials in mosquitocidal paint.
This is part of Zambia’s integrated vector control programme aimed at eliminating malaria by 2021.
The conference is held under the theme: “New Technologies Conquering Old Vectors”
Dr Chilufya said the study trial, under the JICA sponsorship, was expected to start next month.
As first of its kind, Dr Chilufya said the novel paint was expected to provide a cost effective, broad spread coverage and two years lasting anti malaria coating.
The one health approach that Zambia had adopted was significant in addressing antimicrobial resistance in both animals and humans.
The minister explained that malaria in Zambia remained a high mortality public emergency with an incidence of 381/1000 affecting mostly pregnant women and children under the age of five.
Dr Chilufya, however, called for better investment in research and development of cheaper and efficacious insecticides to escalate vector control programmes.
He also called for enhanced Public Private Partnership in harnessing technology meant to fight old vectors that drives public health conditions such as malaria, Zika, Chikungunya, and other Neglected Tropical Diseases.
He urged the private sector to come up with cost effective and newer technologies dealing with vectors.
Dr Chilufya also called for increased investment in antimicrobial vector control programmes
He appealed to the formation of the African Chapter and pledged Zambia’s readiness to host the headquarters.
He commended Kansai Paints for the innovation.