OVER 12 thousand households have been earmarked to be sprayed with insecticides in an effort to reduce malaria cases in Kasempa district, North-Western province.

Acting District Administrative Officer, Boston Hakapabila disclosed that 12,509 households were targeted to be sprayed in the exercise.

Mr Hakapabila said this during the launch of the Indoor Residual Spray (IRS) campaign in Kasempa district on Saturday.

“Malaria remains one of the diseases with high burden in the country and Kasempa district, in 2023, the district recorded a high incidence of 1,427 cases per 1000 population,” he added.

He pointed out that out of the 33 health facilities, 26 of them had cases of above 500/100, indicating that the entire district was at high risk.

He appealed for a high level of cooperation from the home owners for the residual insecticide to be effective which would translate into the reduction of malaria cases.

“For IRS to be effective, there must be high coverage of not less than 85 percent of all the eligible structures in order to obtain the community or mass effect,” Mr Hakapabila said.

ZANIS reports that apart from the IRS, the district health department distributed insecticide treated mosquito nets to all households that had registered.

The programme will run from December 16 to January 8, 2024 and is dubbed ‘Reaching populations at risk of malaria with effective vector control intervention for malaria.’