Malaria treatment inadequate – survey

National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) director general Dr Albina Chuwa

 The national fight against malaria especially among newborn babies is far from being won since hardly one in four facilities offering curative care for sick children have all the necessary components to treat the disease, it has been learnt.

 

According to the government-sponsored 2014-15 Service Provision Assessment Survey (TSPA) released in Dar es Salaam yesterday, the four key readiness indicators for proper malaria treatment are diagnostic capacity, treatment guidelines, 1st line medicine, and properly-trained personnel.

 

In Tanzania, the number of annual malaria-related deaths is estimated at 60,000, with 80 per cent of these being children under the age of five.

 

According to National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) director general Dr Albina Chuwa (pictured), the TSPA survey prepared jointly by the Bureau and the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children surveyed 1,188 health facilities in the country, including those owned by religious institutions, private and government facilities.

 

“Among facilities offering curative care for sick children, 78 per cent have guidelines for malaria diagnosis or treatment. Nine in ten facilities have the first-line treatment medicine, yet just under half of facilities have staff trained in malaria diagnosis and or treatment in the last two years,” Dr Chuwa said.

 

She explained that the survey - the first since 2006 - was designed to collect information on general service delivery from a sample of all functioning health facilities in the country, and their preparedness to provide quality services in child health, family planning, maternal and newborns care, HIV, sexually transmitted infections, non-communicable diseases and tuberculosis.

 

“Currently, most facilities provide malaria testing services by using either Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDT’s) or microscopy. This is a big step, but more needs to be done to ensure that the country fights and actually wins the war against malaria,” Dr Chuwa said.

According to the NBS boss, currently 81 per cent of health facilities in the country have HIV testing systems, including 96 per cent of hospitals, 92 percent of health centers, and 80 percent of dispensaries. 

 

She described this as a success, but stressed that the aim was to provide the system to all health treatment factlities in the coyntry.

Deputy health minister Hamis Kigwangala meranwhile disclosed that when the first survey was conducted in 2006, there were 5,669 health facuilities in the coyntry - f 224 hospitals, 4,904 dispensaries and 541 health centers.

 

The latest survey showed that the numbers had since gone up to 7,102 (256 hospitals, health centers 714 and 6,132 dispensaries), Kigwangala said.

 

Although malaria was still stubborn, treatments for other diseases had seen significant improvement, the minister further noted.

 

“For instance, currently the Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) service is available in all health provision centers, whereas  82 per cent of these facilities offer antenatal care and 93 percent have adult HIV testing capacity,” he explained.

 

According to the deputy minister, the survey had showed that basic child vaccines were now more readily available than before, with nearly three in four health facilities offering vaccination services for diseases like polio and measles.