[Cuban advisory work to face the rise of malarial cases in two Haitian departments in April 2010].

Abstract

Introduction: malaria is considered to be a serious health problem in Haiti, mainly in the rural zones of the coastal area located at 600 m above the sea level, particularly shallow zones with rice crops.

Objective: to describe the actions taken in four sites of two Haitian departments to face the rise of the number of malarial cases.

Methods: the advisory work was carried out in three communities located in the West department and one in Nippes department in April 2010. Fever screenings along with sample-taking for thick smear test were performed as well as anti-vector activities including search for breeding sites and thermal treatment in the house and out of it.

Results: it was confirmed in this thick smear test that not all the persons presenting with febrile symptoms suffered malaria since low positive values to this disease were obtained. During this study, only Plasmodium falciparum was diagnosed. Out of the 46 breeding sites, 26 were positive to Anopheles albimanus. The impact of insecticidal treatment could not be assessed since the areas did not have preliminary data on this respect.

Conclusions: these results provide the malaria control program with pieces of knowledge about the distribution and control of vectors in addition to emphasizing the need of making an updated stratification of the incidence of the disease that comprises all the aspects of the malaria control program in Haiti.