Malaria insecticide not banned, Chilufya clarifies
THE ban of Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) only applies to the agriculture sector and is still allowed in public health, Minister of Health Chitalu Chilufya has told parliament.
The minister was responding to a question from Mazabuka Central Member of Parliament, Gary Nkombo, who wanted to know why Government has started using insecticide DDT a banned sub-stance in the malaria control programme.
Dr Chilufya told the house that Zambia started using DDT indoor spraying from 2002 to 2010 but stopped using the substance due to resistance to the anopheles mosquito vector which transmits malaria.
He explained that now that the susceptibility had been restored the the substance was being used again.
Dr Chilufya stated that the ban on DDT applied only to the agriculture sector but for the purposes of public health, malaria control in particular, the insecticide was still permissible by the World Health Organization.
“Mr Speaker, the use of DDT in indoor spraying shall continue as long as it remains effective in kill-ing mosquitoes
“The insecticide is sprayed only inside of a structure, the Ministry of Health continues to embrace and scale up malaria interventions that targets the anopheles mosquitoes," he said.
Dr Chilufya stated that all insecticide if not used appropriately could be harmful to living things and the environment.
The minister told the house that the harmful effects of DDT were now known and documented.
“The ban on DDT use was related to the way of use of the insecticide. The way we are going to use the insecticide is very different because there are other safeguards as a result of research.
“Government has put in place measures to safeguard communities where DDT is used in indoor spraying such as a strategic environment assessment was done through the Ministry of Health through the Malaria elimination program and Zambia Environmental Management Agency, “he said.
Dr Chilufya noted that to mitigate this, his Ministry was using other insecticides and that the rota-tion of spraying insecticide was done after two years.
“DDT is not the only insecticide being used but other insecticides are being used in fighting Malaria but it is among the best insecticide recommended by the World Health Organization in the elimi-nation of vectors,”