Minimum Acceptable Diet I

Malaria • 201 MALARIA 12 Key Findings Ownership of nets: A total of 26 of households in Afghanistan have at least one insecticide-treated mosquito net ITN. Access to ITN: Only 13 of the household population have access to an ITN if each ITN in the household is used by up to 2 people. Slept under ITN: Four percent of the household population, 5 of children under age 5, and 4 of pregnant women slept under an ITN the night before the survey. ACT for treatment of fever: While advice or treatment was sought for 63 of children with a fever, only about 1 were treated with artemisinin-based combination therapy ACT. alaria is endemic in many areas of Afghanistan at altitudes below 2,000 meters, with an estimated 22.4 million people living in areas with a high risk of transmission. Malaria is most prevalent in snow-fed river valleys and areas used for rice cultivation. Transmission is seasonal, occurring from June to November 1 . However, many Plasmodium vivax infections relapse during the spring season, which may give rise to a vivax peak around July. The Plasmodium falciparum peak is from August to October, a few months after the summer peak of Plasmodium vivax. The seasonality and relative low prevalence of malaria about 10 in the most endemic areas has resulted in a population only partly immune to malaria, with children and teenagers bearing most of the burden MoPH 2013. Although the incidence of malaria has declined markedly in the last decade, continued efforts are required to decrease the incidence of the two predominant species Plasmodium falciparum and plasmodium vivax. Much progress has been made in controlling malaria in the last decade. Health services are immeasurably stronger from the support of the international community in scaling up the Basic Package of Health Services BPHS to national coverage. The BPHS improved case management and systematized the national reporting system through the Health Management Information System HMIS during 2003 and 2004. Increased emphasis on reporting and collaboration between the National Malaria and Leishmaniasis Control Program NMLCP and the Health Management Information System HMIS have strengthened malaria reporting and expanded the number of sites that provide standardized information MoPH 2012. Based on the Afghanistan 2005 malaria transmission risk stratification, the 34 provinces in the country have been classified into three risk strata high, medium, and low, or malaria free based on risk of 1 The fieldwork of 2015 AfDHS was conducted from June 2015 to February 2016 in all provinces regardless of seasonality and high risk areas in the country. M 202 • Malaria