Kagera region villages that were not covered under the Malaria Indoor Spraying Programme, are the worst hit in the recent Tanzania malaria outbreak, CEOAFRICA reports.

According to Muleba District Commissioner Lembris Kipuyo, villages affected includes; Kamishago, Kasharunga, Ikondo, Kihwera, Itongo, Kyanshenge, Ruteme, Kibanga, Kisana, and Buyaga.

Others are Kabirizi, Muzinga, Mushabago, Kasindaga, Kabutaigi, Kihumulo, Buhuma, Biija, Kishoju, Mubunda, Kishanda, Rushwa, Ihanga, Kagasha, Buhangaza, Babulala, Biirabo and Mulela.

On his part, the Kagera Regional Commissioner Fabian Massawe said urgent and drastic measures have been taken, including Malaria Rapid Diagnosis Testing (MRDT) and data collection. A Medical Epidemiologist from the ministry of Health and social Welfare, Dr Rogath Kishimba also said that they were taking samples from children admitted to Rubya Hospital to the National Reference Laboratory (NRL) to verify whether there were other viral causes than malaria.

The malaria outbreak affects mostly children as the number of infact deaths being recorded daily was between one to two children at this region alone. “On the first day of the outbreak on May 25, about 16 deaths were recorded mainly of the infants arrived at the hospital very late,” The Medical Officer in-charge of Rubya Hospital, Dr Diocles Ngaiza told Tanzania Daily News.

He then appealed that the government should, as a matter of urgency, intervene by deploying more medical doctors and nurses, antimalaria drugs and mosquito nets.

Current analysis states that a total of 302 children aged less than five years who were admitted to various hospitals and health centres in Kagera Region during 2010 died due to malaria out of 17,725 admitted to those hospitals.