Vector-borne diseases pose a serious public health and economic burden to humanity and particularly to the African Region, officials said on Monday September 26, as a regional conference on malaria control kicked off in Kigali.
Speaking at the conference, Minister of Health, Dr. Daniel Ngamije, revealed that more than 80 percent of the worldwide population is at risk of one or more Vector-borne Diseases (VBDs) causing 700,000 deaths annually.
"During the conference, we will learn from recent scientific research findings on surveillance, prevention, recent advancement in technologies and new tools for effective management of these diseases.”
The conference dubbed ‘Pan African Mosquito Control Association (PAMCA)’ is currently running under the theme ‘Harnessing local institutional capacity and community support for elimination of VBDs.’
VBDs include malaria, dengue, yellow fever, zika, chikungunya, rift valley fever, filariasis and many others that threaten the lives of people.
"Let this conference bring more evidence to inform effective control and elimination of VBDs in Africa,” the minister said while presiding over the launch.
Participants at the conference include entomologists, public health professionals and civil society actors among others.
Enhance research and surveillance
This year’s meeting comes at a time when the World Health Organisation targets reducing Vector-borne diseases by 90 percent by 2030.
This, officials said, will be achieved by embracing different strategies like enhancing vector surveillance and research, scaling up integrated tools and approaches to tackle those vectors and using digital approaches among others.
Dr. Charles Mbogo, the President of Pan-African Mosquito Control Association, described this meeting as an opportunity to collaborate research findings from different countries and share best practices.
He called for diversity and collaboration from different sectors and areas of life to eliminate Vector-borne Diseases.
"Involvement of women in vector control leadership will quickly lead to elimination of vector borne diseases. We have to engage our communities and address the risks of vector-borne diseases from a one health perspective as all sectors are involved,” he stressed.
Involvement of young people
On her side, Professor Sheila Tlou, Special Ambassador of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance, stressed that young people are the key selected group who urgently need to join the battle.
She said young people should be involved in this fight because these are the leaders to end malaria and other neglected tropical diseases.
"We should have them properly trained, properly remunerated to ensure that we have a cohort of leaders who will move on with this exercise of eliminating malaria,” she observed.