World Health Organisation (WHO) has provided Rwf80 million ‘interagency emergency health kits’ to Kirehe District hospital in Eastern Province to help curtail malaria cases among the Burundian refugees at Mahama Refugee Camp.

The support will help contain malaria which is reported to be on the rise among the over 55,000 Burundian refugees in the camp and also benefit surrounding communities.

The package is comprised of anti-malaria drugs, antibiotics, drugs to treat sexually transmitted diseases, and non-communicable diseases, and sterilization materials. The support also includes health kit for expectant mothers, diarrhea, asthma, surgical materials, hygienic materials, tools for hypertension testing, among others.

Dr Andre Rusanganwa, the diseases prevention and control programme officer at WHO Rwanda, said that support went to Kirehe because the district is one the areas most affected by malaria.

"We also provided other drugs and equipment to deal with different diseases in general,” he said.

Reports show that there had been a high prevalence of malaria cases, leading to high mortality rate, especially among children under five in April and May 2017 in Mahama camp, while the disease was reportedly on a downward trend in surrounding local communities.

WHO says they intervened with malaria active screening and treatment in May 2017 in collaboration with UNHCR, the Government and other partners where 6,064 refugees with malaria symptoms underwent tests, 48 per cent of whom tested positive and were treated.

The intervention was also carried out in June when 3,273 people with malaria symptoms were screened with a positivity rate of 41 per cent.

Dr Patient Ngamije, the Director of Kirehe District Hospital, said that, "As of June, an average of 38 per cent of all patients from Burundian refugees in Mahama camp had malaria; patients in critical condition are referred to the hospital”.

He added that malaria constitutes 4 per cent of all cases at the hospital.

The hospital receives between 1,500 and 2,000 patients per month. The district is home to over 370,000 people.

The drugs will also help us deal with many malaria cases anticipated in the months of October and November, Ngamije added.

He said that, despite an increase in malaria cases, deaths related to the disease have gone down."The support will help us reduce the expenditure on medicine. Every month we spend between Rwf20 million and Rwf23 million on medicine but when we receive support of this kind we are able to save between Rwf3 million and Rwf4 million a month,” he said.

WHO officials said they also recently provided equipment for medical laboratory installation to ensure early prevention of epidemics in Kibungo Referral Hospital to which Kirehe District Hospital refers patients.

Eric Zikama, the Executive Secretary of Kirehe District, said the Ministry of Health and the district joined hands to fight malaria by carrying out indoor residual spraying, adding that the latest support from WHO will complement their efforts.

"It is a timely shot in the arm since our district is one of those most affected by malaria,” he said.

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