Ministry of Health launches campaign against malaria

The Ministry of Health (MS) launched this Tuesday, 25, a campaign aimed at preventing and combating malaria. The focus of the campaign is the Amazon Region, which concentrates 99% of cases in Brazil. This disease has a higher incidence in populations with greater social vulnerability and represents a major public health problem in Brazil. According to information from the “Band”the date marks World Malaria Day and 20 years of action by the National Malaria Prevention and Control Program.

Preliminary data from the folder show that, in the months of January and February 2023, 21,273 cases were registered, that is, an increase of 12.2% compared to the same period of 2022.

According to the folder, the advertising campaign will be broadcast on television, radio, internet, social networks and billboards scattered in the states of the Amazon Region (AC, AM, AP, MA, MT, PA, RO, RR and TO). In addition, the campaign will also be publicized in sound cars and boats, so that the information will reach the population that lives in more vulnerable locations.

Alda Cruz, director of the Department of Communicable Diseases of the Health and Environment Surveillance Secretariat of the Ministry of Health, said that the campaign will be broadcast in regions that are considered special and most affected. The focus will be on alerts, ways to prevent and treat the disease.

Ministry of Health launches campaign against malariahttps://t.co/RpE6bZ6XgP

— Band.com.br (@portaldaband) April 25, 2023

_{Post on the subject. (Reproduction/Twitter @portaldaband)}

The director said that the “homework” will be diagnosing and treating all cases in an adequate and timely manner, carrying out prevention and control activities, including health education and cutting reestablishment in areas that do not have autochthonous transmission in the last three years, which has been implemented in the extra-Amazonian region.

Ethel Maciel, MS secretary for Health and Environmental Surveillance, said that, in addition to the campaign, the ministry should launch in the next few days a strategic plan to fight malaria specifically for the Legal Amazon. The training of leaders for the elimination of the disease is among the actions that must be carried out.

Maciel explained: “We will work on these two fronts: a specific plan aimed at filling some gaps, both in surveillance and assistance”. She also says that when you look at the distribution, including health equipment in the country, they are differentiated by region and the North Region is the one that needs to be looked at in a different way to effect equity in health.

Out of curiosity, according to the “Brazil Agency”, in 2019, Brazil recorded more than 153,000 cases of malaria. In 2020 there were 143 thousand. In 2021 the number of cases was 193 thousand. Already in 2022, there were 129 thousand cases registered and 50 deaths.

Featured Photo: Ministry of Health launches campaign against malaria. Reproduction/Federal Government.