Equatorial Guinea has launched an expanded public health campaign to curb malaria transmission on Bioko Island and scale up prevention efforts across the mainland.

While the government highlights the initiative as a major step forward, political analyst Dr David Matsanga argued that a country with such vast oil wealth should have eliminated the disease long ago. He pointed to systemic governance issues and mismanagement of resource revenues as the primary reasons for basic medical infrastructure and simple preventative tools, such as bed nets and routine medicines, remain underfunded.

“It is sad that when you are there, you have to spray the room so heavily, and yet the government could buy these nets or mosquito nets, could buy medicines, could eliminate malaria,” Matsanga noted during an interview on Rise and Shine. “With huge amounts of oil resources coming out, this government should have eliminated it, and Equatorial Guinea would have been one of the best countries, islands where you can arrive and smile as an African.”

Health advocates and commentators maintain that for the new elimination plan to succeed, the administration must ensure transparency and dedicate national revenues directly to primary healthcare and sustainable vector control.

–ChannelAfrica–