For those in the freight industry visiting or residing in Mozambique, a report on the prevalence of malaria in that country makes for rather horrifying reading. Information assembled by the Confederation of Economic Associations of Mozambique (CTA) revealed that the number of cases of malaria in Mozambique, and of deaths from the disease, worsened substantially in 2014. It noted that 5 485 327 cases of malaria were diagnosed in 2014. “An alarming leap of 38% over the 2013 figure of 3.9 million,” said the CTA. It pointed out that the current estimate of the size of the Mozambican population was 25.7 million – so more than a quarter of the population suffered a bout of malaria last year. The number of known malaria deaths rose from |2 941 in 2013 to 3 245 last year, a 10.3% increase. “Malaria thus remains the leading cause of death in Mozambican health units,” CTA added. It also stated that this rise in malaria was despite substantial government expenditure on combating the disease – and particularly combating the mosquitoes that carry the malaria parasite. “In 2014, 5.1 million insecticide-treated mosquito nets were acquired at a cost of 625.8 million meticais (R208.8m). Another 42.2m meticais (R14.08m) was spent on acquiring insecticides for house-spraying campaigns.”
