Poverty and Human Development Report 2009 - UNDP in Tanzania

POVERTY AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2009
Figure 18: Percentage of Under-Fives who slept under an ITN the Night before
the Survey, Rural and Urban, 2004/5 and 2007/08
% of children under five years of
age
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
40%
16%
10%
Sources: TDHS 2004/05; THMIS 2007/08
49%
2004/05 2007/08
Urban Rural All
The effectiveness of malaria treatment has also improved. The highly-effective artemisinin-based
combination therapy “ALu” was introduced as the first line treatment in early 2007, replacing
“SP” to which resistance was emerging. Other advances in malaria control have thus far been
confined to certain parts of the country, including Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs), larviciding (Dar
es Salaam) and indoor residual spraying (Muleba, Kagera and Zanzibar). The combined impact
of advances in malaria control is evident across a range of indicators. Despite the absence
of a nationally-representative baseline, Smithson (2009) concludes that malaria prevalence in
Tanzania has roughly halved over the past decade. There have been declines of similar magnitude
in malaria transmission, severe anaemia, fever incidence, malaria in-patient admissions and the
proportion of fever cases positive for malaria over the same period. Figure 19 shows that the
percentage of children under five years who were reported to have had a fever in the two weeks
prior to a survey has fallen from 35% in 1999 to 19% in 2007/08. The prevalence of fever which
had been higher among children in rural areas, is now slightly lower (19%) compared with urban
areas (21%).
56
26%
21%