Malaria control priorities and constraints.

The capacity to prioritize correctly actions in malaria control depends on good knowledge not only of the epidemiology of the disease in the area but also of the behaviour of the people. Health policy makers frequently believe that the people already know enough about malaria and there is no need to commit further resources on finding out what the people actually know and do about the disease in order to modify their wrong habits. One of the pressing priorities for malaria control in Africa is therefore changing the attitude of malaria control policy makers. Considering the constraints to malaria control it is stressed that the health budget is usually below a level sufficient to finance an effective health care system. This is further compounded by inequities in the allocation of funds between health care institutions located in the urban areas compared with those located in the rural areas. Another important constraint is lack of manpower suitably trained to undertake the various elements of the global malaria control strategy. Finally, a very well known constraint is the unavailability of effective drugs at the locations where they are needed.