DAGGA FARMING LINKED TO INCREASE IN MALARIA CASES

 MBABANE –Watching dagga fields overnight has exposed farmers to contracting malaria, resulting in the shooting up of cases in the Hhohho Region.

While the country was getting towards the elimination stage of malaria, there has been a spike in the trend of malaria cases with a total of 1 184 reported in 2017/ 2018.

This is according to recent data from the National Malaria Programme (NMP), which traced the issues back to the people working in the mountains, especially the ones involved in dagga cultivation.
Cases have tripled in the trend as there were only 431 which were reported in 2016/17, while during the drought season in 2015/16 there were only 324 cases reported.

The rains received after the drought season are also considered as a contributing factor.
Areas which have been identified to be malaria prone include Manzana, Madlenya, Ngonini, Phuzumoya, Mliba, Kwakheni and Ekufikeni.
Giving the status of malaria in the country and the role of the media, Mathokoza Sibandze said the cases were sporadic with one or two occurring per community. 

Sibandze said it was tricky controlling the cases due to confidentiality issues. He said their interventions, which included spraying of homes following surveillance, have not worked as people in the malaria prone areas continued to contract it because of going to the mountains at night. Sibandze said after identifying the case, they conducted investigations to find the cause and noted that it was mostly people who worked in the mountains at night who contracted the disease.

According to Sibandze, the Hhohho Region was leading with malaria cases. He said from the beginning of this year to they had recorded 45 cases.
In July, Sibandze said there were a total of 27 cases with 10 locally contracted infections and the remainder imported.

Gabisile Nhlengetfwa from the health promotion at NMP said as they worked towards the eradication of malaria, their goal was mainly to encourage people to adopt practices that eliminated the risk of Malaria infection.

Nhlengetfwa also expressed hope that there would be provision of comprehensive information packages on the importance of preventative action at individual, households and community levels.

Their key message, she said was for the general public to have knowledge of malaria symptoms and how it was transmitted.
She said what was important was that malaria was curable if treatment was started early.

Further, she said people should prevent stagnant pools of water. Nhlengetfwa said overgrown vegetation around the home, office and fields should also be cleared.

She encouraged the use of mosquito repellents in high risk areas and proper waste management among other things.

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