It is a disease that is wreaking havoc in northern Mali. In the first nine months of the year, the number of malaria cases exploded in the five northern regions. Between September 21 and 27, nearly 13,000 cases of malaria were recorded, an increase of 88% over the previous week. This was due to a long rainy season in the Sahel.
According to the health services, in less than a week 23 people died of malaria in the north of the country. The death toll in the north of the country now stands at 59. An increase in contaminations noted by community health services.
“We in our commune, in our community health center, used to be able to go 8 months without having just one confirmed case of malaria,” explains Dr. Mahamadou Sangaré, from the community health center of Agelhoc, in the circle of Tessalit. But in almost two weeks we received more than 250 confirmed cases of malaria. So it’s really incredible and we shouldn’t neglect these rates,” warns the doctor.
Due to the lack of beds, many patients are forced to wait outside on the ground to receive care. A situation that is all the more worrying because the disease particularly affects young children: the under-fives account for more than a quarter of the contaminations.
In Kidal, health services are struggling to accommodate patients.
“The health situation today in Kidal is very alarming, given the influx of malaria patients throughout the region. The health structures are really overwhelmed by patients. We are also seeing a large number of deaths due to severe cases of malaria,” says Cheick Ag Oufene, the administrator of the Kidal Reference Health Center.
With the Covid 19 crisis, the funds dedicated to malaria had to be redirected to face the pandemic.
However, “cleaning up wetlands, clearing brushwood, drying out puddles, distributing mosquito nets and raising awareness among the population requires resources,” explains Dr. Rudy Lukamba, Health Manager of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Mali.
Malaria is now also becoming an emergency in northern Mali.
Source: Africanews
