RWAMAGANA - Malaria infection has drastically reduced in Rwamagana district, health officials said Thursday.
Talking to The New Times, the Director of Rwamagana Hospital,Jean Claude Ndagijimana, said available statistics show malaria cases overall dropped by 50 percent across area health centres.

He attributed the downward trend to the use of treated mosquito nets. "It is promising to see the figures recorded are low … it brings optimism that malaria can be eliminated. In May we had 7,272 people who were diagnosed with malaria but as at end of August only 801 cases were registered,” he said.

Dr. Avit Mutaganzwa commented that the government has worked very hard with its partners in an effort to check the spread of the disease while the community has responded well to prevention mechanisms.

Dr Mutaganzwa added that the use of effective anti-malarial drugs  has also reduced malaria cases because it works effectively.

"Are we making progress in the "fight against malaria? "The good news is yes we are making progress.” "Government’s strategy to sensitize communities on sleeping under treated mosquito nets has worked…we thus have very few patients turning up for treatment,” he said.

Juliette Mutungi, 46, a mother of four said the distribution of treated nets has changed lives of people in her village.
She said that most of the people could not be able to work on their gardens since they were either sick or attending to malaria patients.

Previously it was reported that rural people had a negative attitude towards mosquito nets, according to local leaders. However, this mentality has changed, following sensitization campaigns.

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