Prevention efforts focused on highest-risk areasīeginning in 2006, the distribution of insecticide treated bednets in high-risk areas was limited to pregnant women and children under the age of 5 years, those at the highest risk of contracting the disease. Kenya’s malaria response in these areas focuses primarily on surveillance, effective diagnosis and treatment. The presence of the parasite is also low in the country’s arid regions, where it can peak at around 3% following heavy rains. In the capital city of Nairobi, fewer than 1% of people harbour the parasite that causes malaria. Here insecticide-treated bednets are the primary preventive tool whereas indoor spraying with insecticides is targeted towards selected areas with high transmission around Lake Victoria. The coastal areas near the Indian Ocean and the Lake Victoria region, for example, are high-burden, and malaria prevalence hovers around 8% and 27% respectively. The country’s malaria response, led by the Ministry of Health, has evolved as accumulated evidence has shown the value of tailored interventions for specific locations. “We do not do the same thing everywhere.”
“Because transmission is not the same across the whole country, each region has its own intervention package,” said Dr Rebecca Kiptui, who is in charge of surveillance, monitoring, evaluation and operational research for Kenya’s National Malaria Control Programme. It is in this east African nation that a variety of preventive measures, tailored to meet the widely divergent needs of local populations, have translated into major overall progress. When it comes to malaria, the value of a broad range of prevention efforts may be most visible in Kenya, where 70% of the country’s 46 million people are at risk.
A broad range of preventive measures tailored to local needs have resulted in major progress against malaria – but declining resources underscore the need for even more efficient work.
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