The World Health Organisation organized a 5-day (17^th – 21^st November 1997) sub-regional meeting on Malaria control in Harare which was attended by participants from 8 countries in the SADC region.

The main objective of the workshop was to review progress in the fight against malaria in Southern Africa, particularly in connection with the status of implementation of the plans of action developed in 1997, and develop action oriented plans for 1998.  This is within the context of a renewed  African regional and global thrust to strengthen and accelerate the fight against malaria in response to the alarming regional and global resurgence of malaria.

WHO is providing in collaboration with bilateral and multilateral partners such as UNICEF, UNESCO, EU, Australian Government, British International Development Division, JICA in the areas of both technical and financial assistance to countries in Southern Africa affected by this disease, to strengthen their malaria prevention and control programmes.  This follows the OAU Harare declaration on malaria in June 1997 as countries are already mobilizing their own scarce resources for a renewed fight against malaria.  Within the context of capacity building, this meeting will provide the programme managers and senior officials from the ministries of health of the participating countries with the opportunity to take stock of progress in 1997 in malaria prevention and control in their respective countries.

It was noted that national programmes had been strengthened in 1997 with more human resources such as in Mozambique and Botswana, provincial malaria coordinators have been established  in Malawi and South Africa.  Initial training of health workers has been conducted in management of severe malaria and vector control, epidemic preparedness.

The activities initiated in 1997 are to be consolidated in 1998 and strategies were planned for renewed assault against malaria in 1998 as well as to establish a strong coordination across borders in malaria control among SADC countries as mosquitoes and malaria parasites know no borders.

There was consensus that Malaria remains a significant public health problem in the whole SADC region, which deserves national, inter-country and regional recognition and commitment for it to be effectively tackled.

Resistance of the malaria parasite to antimalarial drugs such as Chloroquine is spreading throughout the region, requiring continuous systematic surveillance to monitor and ensure effective treatment is always available.  There is need to come up with standard protocols for malaria diagnosis, treatment and vector control in the region.

There is need for a concerted regional effort to ensure continuous and cheaper supplies of materials like insecticides and bed-nets for vector control, and WHO was called to assist.  A regional malaria reporting system is to be established coordinated by WHO, and the information generated should be shared among countries in the region. 

Malaria surveillance and epidemic forecasting should be intensified to ensure countries are not taken by surprise by epidemics.  Communication on malaria status and its control between countries will be provided by electronic mail with the assistance of WHO.

Regular yearly meetings will be held under the auspices of WHO to ensure collaboration in tackling malaria as a public health problem.  The participating countries in the SADC region include:  Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

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