Pupils, teens left out of campaign against malaria

By Elizabeth Mwai

School-aged children are the least protected from malaria, a report has said.

The report by the Kenya Medical Research Institute shows that children aged between five and 19 were the lowest covered by the treated nets, hence most exposed to malaria.

"While the five to 19 year olds may have developed immunity against clinical diseases, they will not have developed immunity to the malaria parasite and will therefore continue to contribute to transmission," said Dr Abdisalan Noor, the lead researcher for the study.

According to the study in 18 African countries, about 80 per cent of human-mosquito transmission was by children aged above five.

Noor found that parents and their children under the age of five were much more likely to have access to protection from nets than older children in the same house.

Malaria is the leading children killer in the country, accounting for 16,000 deaths annually.

The report, also facilitated by Wellcome Trust and Oxford University, indicates that the school-aged children are now the most vulnerable to infection due to low Insecticide Treated Net Coverage (ITN).

Unintended result

The findings were derived from a five-year study, which kicked off in 2005.

The report, which has been published in the open access journal BMC Public Health, notes that use of treated mosquito nets targets mostly pregnant mothers and children under five.

This is the unintended consequence in the pursuit of the Abuja Declaration and Millennium Development Goals target.

Noor said health officials should consider distributing nets where school attendance is high.

He said this was a quick and cost effective approach to enhance net coverage.

 

 

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