Kenyan Government Needs 113 Million Dollars to Fight Malaria

The Kenyan government needs seven billion shillings (113 million dollars, 72 million euro) to combat malaria in the country, the health ministry announced Monday.

Malaria kills 34,000 children under the age of five each year in Kenya, and threatens the lives of more than 25 million of its population of 35 million people, the ministry said.

It accounts for 20 percent of all hospital admissions and between 30 to 50 percent of outpatients in the country.

"Considering that about 25 million people are at risk of malaria, Kenya requires seven billion shillings annually to effectively control the killer disease," health ministry permanent secretary Hezron Nyangito said.

Officials said donors are expected to contribute the cash to boost the country's sagging coffers.

Nyangito announced the government would spent 700 million shillings (11 million dollars) to spray insecticides in the country 11 malaria-prone districts.

In August last year, the government announced it almost halved malaria deaths among small children by using insecticidal nets (INTs), spurring the World Health Organisation to advocate free nets for all as it tackles Africa's deadliest disease.

The ministry said it had distributed 12 million doses of artemisinin-based therapy (ACT), the latest surefire anti-malaria drug cocktail to replace the mono-therapies that had developed resistance.

Malaria affects more than a billion people worldwide and kills a million -- mainly under age five -- every year, the vast majority in sub-Saharan Africa.

Source-AFP
SRM/L