CHRISTINE CHIHAME, Mansa
LUAPULA Province health director Peter Bwalya has said over 1.8 million people in the region have registered with the Ministry of Health to receive insecticide-treated mosquito nets (ITNs) aimed at ending cases of malaria.

Dr Bwalya said 1,851,334 people have registered to access the treated nets and the provincial health office has so far received 900,000 insecticide-treated nets.
“The provincial health office has received 900,000 insecticide-treated nets for use as one of the interventions to contribute to malaria elimination,” he said.
Dr Bwalya also said Government, through his ministry and stakeholders, has set an ambitious target to eliminate malaria by 2021.
He said the province is fully prepared to respond to any threat of public health concerns.
Dr Bwalya said in an interview that his office is on alert and that surveillance has been intensified in all points of the province.
He assured that there was no disease outbreak in Luapula at the moment.
“May I state that we managed to contain the cholera outbreak that we experienced in Nchelenge and Chiengi districts where 82 cases where successfully treated,” Dr Bwalya said.
Despite having contained the outbreak, Dr Bwalya expressed fears that people were still living in an unhealthy environment.
He urged people living in the two districts to maintain very high standards of general and personal hygiene to avoid the recurrence of the disease.