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{
"id": 190126,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/190126/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Dr. Gesami",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Public Health and Sanitation",
"speaker": {
"id": 19,
"legal_name": "James Ondicho Gesami",
"slug": "james-gesami"
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"content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, whereas I support the Motion, I would like to propose an amendment to this Motion. I beg to move:- THAT, the Motion be amended by deleting the words, \"on a quarterly basis\" July 9, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1721 appearing on the second last line. The reason why I am proposing this amendment is because all the time we get new developments in the insecticides that we spray. There are some which can last six months. In fact, the current sprays we are using last for six months. However, there are some that can last for a year. We do not want to tie ourselves by making a law that will put us in a corner and we cannot expand on it. So, I propose that the words, \"quarterly basis\" appearing on the second line are deleted. Let me appreciate that malaria is an important disease that actually has a very high mortality rate in this country. It also has a very high morbidity, that is, ill health in this country. It is true that a lot of time is wasted by workers in getting treatment for malaria. The amount of money that we are using in the treatment of malaria is huge. In fact, the current treatment that we are using is quite expensive. The good thing is that all these drugs are now available in all our Government and mission hospitals. They are given for free. We have a four-approach system of managing malaria. One of the ways in which we manage malaria is, of course, case treatment. A patient comes to the hospital, we do laboratory tests and when we find that he has malaria, we treat the case. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the other way in which we are treating malaria is by residual spraying, the subject of this Motion. The other one is, of course, giving intermittent prophylaxis to ante-natal mothers, because we know that is the actual target group for malaria, because of the lower immunity during pregnancy. The last one is sleeping under mosquito nets. We are not saying, as a Ministry, that any one of those methods can be effective. We are saying that we must combine all these four strategies to fight malaria. So, spraying is one method that we want to use to control malaria. Let me also say that this is a very expensive method. It takes large amounts of money; so, when we are debating this Motion, we should know that, as a poor country, we may not be able to get enough resources to spray all over the country. Let me also say that in the 16 districts that Dr. Eseli referred to, we spray once annually to break the transmission of mosquitoes. This is because during the months of April to August, during the long rain season, is when mosquitoes are actively breeding. That is when the highest transmission occurs. So, once we spray, we cut off transmission. Truly speaking, since 2001, those districts that used to have epidemics, the malaria level has gone down considerably. I can report here that, in fact, from our records in various hospitals, the percentage decrease in morbidity in malaria has come down by about 15 per cent over that period. So, we believe that the four strategies we are using are bearing some fruit. We should intensify their use, but it does not mean that we do not adopt spraying as a method of controlling malaria. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there are about three regions in this country, which are malaria epidemic areas. There are also areas that are malaria endemic, where there is transmission throughout the area. I think Dr. Eseli knows that. There are areas which are in between. Therefore, when we talk about spraying, we should know which areas we are targeting. We should also remember that Kenya is not isolated. We have Somalia, Uganda and Tanzania. So, this is a problem in the Sub-Saharan African countries. Even if we spray in Kenya alone and we do not ask our neighbours to do the same, then we are not going to make any impact in the control of mosquitoes. Wee read in the Bible that Noah saved every species during those holy days in the Bible. The mistake Noah made was to bring the female anopheles mosquito into his Ark, because then we could have done away with malaria completely. In endemic areas, we have now started spraying in Rachuonyo; we expect to spread throughout the endemic areas like Coast, Nyanza and Western regions. So, I would like hon. Members to debate this Motion, and I support it, but with those facts that I have given in mind. With those few remarks, I beg to support the amendment. 1722 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 9, 2008"
}