SADC malaria day commemorated in KZN

Health Policy Unit | November 24, 2008

The annual South African Development Community (SADC) malaria day was held on 14 November. Health ministers attending the commemorations descended on the small town of Jozini in northern KwaZulu-Natal to raise awareness of the risks of the disease before the start of the rainy season that typically runs from November through to March. During this period, the scourge of malaria is at its worst in the region.

Ministers of Health also visited the local community to observe spray operations, where small amounts of insecticide are sprayed on the inside walls of houses in a process known as indoor residual spraying (IRS), IRS protects the occupants of a sprayed house from the deadly mosquito for up to one year.

However, well-meaning but ill-conceived decisions by parliamentarians in far off places could prevent SADC ministers from being able to obtain these valuable insecticides to control the disease. Recently the European Union (EU) proposed new regulations over the use of agricultural insecticides. These regulations are widely decried as unscientific and capricious in nature. The British government suggests that in the worst case scenario up to 85 per cent of chemicals currently used in EU agriculture will be outlawed and would "make conventional commercial agriculture in the UK unachievable as it is currently practised". If this legislation is passed, it threatens all farmers and consumers. As the global reaction has been to export EU rules elsewhere, in time it may well affect all corners of the globe.
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