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THE Chipata Rotaly Club in conjunction with some Rotary clubs of United States of America, is expected to donate six thousand mosquito nets to communities in three chiefdoms of Mambwe District.
And Mambwe District Community Health Officer, Dr. Gideon Zulu, said Malaria was the number one killer among diseases and there was need for consented efforts to fight it.
And District Governor of the Seattle Rotaly Club in USA, Eric Schimatz, said volunteers who were members of the rotary clubs in America were concerned with the high incident rate of Malaria in Africa.
This came to light when the club donated an initial 1, 500 nets at a ceremony to launch the exercise held at Kamanga village in Chief Mnkhanya’s area in Mambwe District yesterday.
Chipata Rotaly Club President, Philip Phiri, said his club had partnered with the Department of Health in the district to train 27 volunteers in Malaria control and prevention to ensure that the disease burden was lessened.
Mr. Phiri said 24, 000 people were targeted to receive the bed nets in Mambwe district by the year 2015.
He said the club was there to support the community, adding that, beneficiaries should use the nets for intended purposes and not use them to catch fish.
And Mambwe District Community Health Officer, Dr. Gideon Zulu, said Malaria was the number one killer among diseases and there was need for consented efforts to fight it.
Dr. Zulu said though the incidence rate has gone down about 800 to 600, more still needed to be done to completely eliminate the disease brought by a female mosquito.
He said government was doing its part through the Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) which received overwhelming support from traditional leaders in the area.
Dr. Zulu hoped for more cooperation between the department and well wishers so as to continue fighting even many more diseases in the district.
Meanwhile, Mambwe District Administrative Officer, Blastone Thole, said government would want more cooperating partners to come on board and help fight many diseases that like Malaria which was claiming a lot of lives.
Mr. Thole noted that government alone could not manage to combat all the disease, hence the need for other stakeholders to supplement efforts.
He appealed to traditional leaders to assist in ensuring that the beneficiaries of the bed nets did not use them to catch fish but sleep under them to prevent themselves from Malaria.
And District Governor of the Seattle Rotaly Club in USA, Eric Schimatz, said volunteers who were members of the rotary clubs in America were concerned with the high incident rate of Malaria in Africa.
Mr. Schimatz said it was the reason why they came on board to help the Rotary Club of Chipata with funds to secure the bed nets.
He also said the only sure way of eliminating malaria was to sleep under a bed net.
The initial bed net would be distributed to Chiefs Mnkhanya, Kakumbi and Jumbe.
Chiefs Jumbe and Kakumbi who also attended the ceremony, will receive 400 bed nets each while chief Mnkhanya will receive 700.
