First Lady Sustjie Mbumba hosted a high-level Roundtable Discussion on inequalities, HIV, TB, Malaria, and Pandemics at State House on Friday.

During the opening of the discussion, Madame Mbumba encouraged individuals and organisations to speak out against inequality or injustice.

The First Lady says that there can be no rest until equality is achieved.

Namibia has not achieved the malaria elimination goal, and cases have more than doubled compared to the 2022 end-line target.

This is despite a marked reduction in the number of malaria cases in the country.

Malaria cases decreased by 95%, from over 66,000 in 2017 to 3,000 in 2019.

According to the World Health Organisation, however, an upsurge in the number of cases has been observed since then, reaching above 13,000 per year in 2020 and 2021, while in 2022 there was a slight decrease at around 11,000.

Namibia has recorded 10,800 cases of malaria and 30 deaths since January this year. The national indoor residual spraying campaign has thus been launched at Okongo in Ohangwena, one of the regions vulnerable to malaria.

In 2021, the country recorded 13,732 cases of malaria.

So far this year, cases are lower with 6,696 having originated from the Zambezi, followed by Ohangwena with 1080, Kavango East with 864, and Kavango West with 648 cases.

Scientists have genetically modified mosquitoes with the ability to slow the growth of malaria-causing parasites in their gut, an advance that can help prevent transmission of the disease to humans.

These engineered mosquitoes produce compounds which impede the growth of malaria-causing parasites, which are then unlikely to reach the mosquitoes' salivary glands and be passed on in a bite before the insects die.