Namibia's health policies and strategies.

PIP: Finland has helped Namibia to pass through the transition period after independence in March 1990. For example, it helped develop a census to provide baseline health and demographic data so the government can proceed with planning its health policy. A goal is to switch from the curative health system it inherited to a primary health care system so as to achieve Health for All by the year 2000. Indeed the government assures free health services to all citizens. The Ministry of Health and Social Services has identified 4 strategies to achieve this goal: granting health promotion and prevention top priority; increase use of information, education, and communication; community participation; and intersectoral cooperation. Morbidity in Namibia is high, e.g., the tuberculosis, measles, and malaria rates are 295, 281, and 473/100,000 population, respectively; the growth of 33% of the children is stunted; and 6% suffer from severe malnutrition. Namibia is dependent upon food imports because parts of Namibia receive very little rain, resources are not equally distributed, landlords do not live near their land holdings, and poverty. The government plans to hold a conference on land to discuss land ownership. The government intends to improve women's status which in turn will improve their, their children's, and the population's health. The constitution guarantees women's rights. Various priority areas of the Ministry include immunization, maternal health (prenatal, intrapartum, and postnatal care), and family planning. Namibia has hosted workshops on these topics and has organized a national AIDS committee which has held 9 workshops on AIDS. The government recognizes that the health of the population depends on national economic development as well as the state of education, housing, agriculture, sanitation, and communication.^ieng

Malaria prophylaxis with proguanil to Namibian refugee children in Angola.

Following a presumptive treatment with 35 mg chloroquine base/kg, 484 Namibian children between 5 months and 5 years of age received 50 mg of proguanil daily for 4 months. They were compared with 268 children living in a very adjacent area who received vitamin tablets after the initial chloroquine medication. Fewer fever episodes were recorded among the children who received proguanil and they were also requiring less presumptive treatments with chloroquine during the period of study, but there were only minor differences in parasite rate between the two groups at the end of the study period. Despite the reduction of morbidity, the required efforts were too large to justify another period of drug prophylaxis.