Kamwi opens malaria IRS campaign at Bukalo

KATIMA MULILO – Zambezi malaria ambassador Dr Richard Kamwi on Monday officially opened the indoor residual spraying (IRS) campaign at Bukalo in the Katima Rural constituency of the Zambezi region.

Kamwi, a former health minister, addressed the teams before their deployment into the field. The Zambezi region officially commenced its IRS programme on Monday, which will run until 11 December 2026.

Kamwi emphasised the need for key interventions in preventing malaria transmission but bemoaned that the current spraying coverage of over 40% is well below the 80% target recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Zambezi has 11 clusters, with Bukalo being one of them. Bukalo has over 40 people divided into teams. Other clusters include Schuckmannsburg, Lisikili, Ngoma, Chinchimani, Masokotwani, Sangwali, Kasheshe, Sibbinda, Sesheke, and Cheto.

Using various platforms, Kamwi has repeatedly appealed to village headmen to welcome IRS teams into their homes by opening their doors in the effort to reduce malaria fatalities.

He said since the beginning of the year, 21 people have died from malaria, compared to 19 during the same period last year. According to Kamwi, most of these deaths involved children under the age of five and expectant mothers.

“To respond to this is what you are seeing here today. The ministry has decided to galvanise and strengthen the teams… trained men and women should do what they know best,” he said.

The ambassador assured the region and other malaria-prone areas that if the teams perform what they were trained to do, there will be positive outcomes.

“I can assure the region that you will see a decline in deaths because the adult Anopheles mosquito population is likely to go down significantly, transmission will decline, and that will assist in reducing malaria deaths,” said Kamwi.

During the annual Lusata Cultural Festival on Sunday, Zambezi governor Dorothy Kabula-Simushi expressed concern over the number of malaria cases recorded in the region, with over 30 000 cases reported between January and the week ending 20 September 2026, compared to 25 716 cases during the same period in 2025.

She attributed the increase partly to some residents refusing indoor residual spraying teams access to their homes and appealed to communities to cooperate with the programme.

“Let us fight this common enemy together,” Kabula-Simushi said.

*-Nampa *

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