By Chisomo Kambandanga

Nkhata Bay, August 10, Mana: Communities in Nkhata Bay have asked government to lobby for more funds to continue with Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) project, if the country was to achieve its goal of eradicating Malaria by 2030.

Community members made these sentiments on Wednesday when a United States delegation visited Nkhata Bay to appreciate the impacts of IRS in the district.

One of the beneficiaries, Loveness Mtambo from Kauta Village in the area of Traditional Authority (TA) Fukamapiri said the project which involves spraying indoors to kill mosquitoes, has reduced incidents of Malaria in her household and her community.

“Before IRS project, my children were frequently suffering from Malaria as you can see in their health passport books. Much of my time was spent at the hospital taking care of my children. This was compromising their education and wasting much of our time to do business and some community developments,” she claimed.

Mtambo, a mother of three said, “We are heartbroken to hear that this is the final year of the IRS project because we are scared to think of the encounters we used to have with malaria before the project.”

TA Fukamapiri said the hope of communities along the lakeshore district depended on the IRS project, saying many people would die of Malaria when it phases out due to high prevalence of mosquitoes in their areas.

Programmes Manager for the National Malaria Control Programme in the Ministry of Health Responsible for Malaria, Dr Lumbani Munthali said the country has managed to reduce Malaria cases by almost 61 percent from 2016 to 2022 through a number of interventions.

He assured the communities that once enough resources are secured, government was willing to continue with the programme and extend it to other districts as well.

Chief of Party for Global Fund Grants in World Vision Malawi (WVM), Dr. Biziwick Mwale said the said the organization was impressed that IRS was yielding positive results. 

WVM is implementing IRS project in Balaka, Mangochi and Nkhata Bay in partnership with government with support from Global Fund.