Government-Distributed Bed Nets Contributed to 85% Reduction in Malaria Cases in Eritrea

The number of malaria infections in Eritrea have fallen by 85% since 1999 in part due to the increased use of bed nets and other government initiatives aimed at reducing malaria prevalence, according to a March 8 announcement by a senior health official, Reuters reports. Approximately 180,000 malaria cases were reported in 1999, compared with about 28,000 in 2004, according to Reuters. Tewolde Ghebremeskel, director of the country's National Malaria Control Program, said government distribution of more than one million bed nets over the past four years has "really helped a lot" to reduce the number of malaria cases. In addition, the environmental management and control of mosquito breeding sites is "an important part of fighting the disease," Ghebremeskel said, according to Reuters. "You have to be able to work on the environment, local breeding sites for mosquitoes; you have to be able to treat cases, and you have to work with communities and human beings. So it makes it complex," he said. Although four years of drought in the country -- which dried up mosquito breeding sites -- and improvements in the health care system also "had an effect" in reducing malaria cases, the government's efforts were the "key cause for success," according to Ghebremeskel, Reuters reports (Harris, Reuters, 3/8).