Busia County Embraces IRS in the Fight Against Malaria
The County Government of Busia will for the first time deploy Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) to reduce the burden of malaria whose prevalence rate stands at 39 per cent.
The initiative which is a high impact intervention will be supported by PMI Kinga Malaria with the aim of strengthening the fight against malaria.
Speaking at Breeze Hotel in Busia town during an inception meeting, Busia Deputy Governor, H.E Arthur Odera said IRS will provide a more lasting solution to the malaria problem as well as reduce the cost of managing the disease especially for locals who use insecticides.
“We believe that it will help reduce the malaria prevalence drastically,”
“We are the County with the highest malaria prevalence rate of 39 per cent with the highest number of people who suffer the pain of malaria while others lose lives. A lot of people also fail to be productive economically because of malaria,” he
said.
He continued, “If we have neighbors who have different approaches or less robust interventions we are going to engage with them to see if we can have collaborative efforts so that the sippage of mosquitoes across borders can be managed,”
The Presidents Malaria Initiative (PMI) Resident Advisor, Mildred Shisia said they will provide financial, operational and technical assistance to ensure the initiative achieves the intended objective.
The Deputy Director Public Health – National Malaria Program Paul Kipto said apart from IRS they will continue with the other interventions to combat malaria including the mass distribution of mosquito nets and immunization of children.
The Health Executive Beatrice Nakholi said they are optimistic that the malaria prevalence rate will reduce just like Homabay and Migori counties where IRS has been implemented with remarkable improvement.
The Director Health Services, Dr Melsa Lutomia said IRS is an intervention that will require Community Health Promoters to continuously pass information to the households.
Others present included the Chief Officer Health and Sanitation, Dr Susan Outa, County Health Management Team and Director of Agriculture, Samson Khachina among others.
With IRS the walls are sprayed with a long lasting insecticide that is safe for humans. The mosquitoes get a deadly dose and cannot survive to bite and infect another person.
The insecticide lasts for 6 months to 1 year and kills mosquitoes that come in contact with it.
The County Government has also embraced the use of biolarvicide drone sprays to help fight mosquitoes especially in the hard to reach areas in the County.
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