Cape Verde hit by worst malaria outbreak in decades
Macro of mosquito sucking blood close up on the human skin. Cape Verde has this year recorded the worst malaria outbreak in over two decades. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
The capital Praia alone had recorded 170 cases, DW Radio said, adding that at least 14 infections were imported from the malaria endemic countries.
Generally, the Cape Verde carries low risk of malaria aside from the islands of Boavista and Sao Tiago, where there may be a risk between August and November.
LUANDA, Sunday
Cape Verde has this year recorded the worst malaria outbreak in over two decades, media reported
DW Radio quoted the Health ministry saying a total of 184 cases had been recorded since January.
“If we compare with other years, it is evident we are not used to such numbers,” DW Radio quoted Mr António Mário Moreira, the Antiretroviral Fight National Coordinator, as saying.
The report said the figure was the highest since 1991.
The capital Praia alone had recorded 170 cases, DW Radio said, adding that at least 14 infections were imported from the malaria endemic countries.
MALARIA
Generally, the Cape Verde carries low risk of malaria aside from the islands of Boavista and Sao Tiago, where there may be a risk between August and November. Malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by parasites that are transmitted through the bites of infected female anopheles mosquitoes.
It is preventable and curable, and increased efforts were dramatically reducing the disease’s burden in many places.
Cape Verde is an island country, off the western coast of Africa, opposite Senegal and Mali. Its population is estimated at 508,000 with a life expectancy of 74 years, one of the highest in Africa.
CHILDREN
Between 2010 and 2015, malaria cases among populations at risk fell by 21 per cent globally, according to the World health Organisation (WHO).
In that same period, malaria mortality rates among populations at risk fell by 29 per cent globally in all age groups, and by 35 per cent in children under 5.
The WHO African Region carries a disproportionately high share of the global malaria burden. In 2015, the region was home to 90 per cent of malaria cases and 92 per cent of malaria deaths.
Cape Verde is an island country, off the western coast of Africa, opposite Senegal and Mali.
Its population is estimated at 508,000 with a life expectancy of 74 years, one of the highest in Africa.
Cape Verde gained independence from Portugal in 1975.
It is among the most politically stable countries of Africa.
