Small pharmacies and private laboratory services should be targeted for data collection on the number of malaria cases they identify or treat on an annual basis.
If statisticians rely on the main institutions they could be misled. Self diagnosis and diagnosis by small pharmacies and laboratories are becoming more common because of prohibitive transport fares and consultation fees as well as the scarcity of the drugs required in hospital pharmacies.
The Ministry should begin to collect data from diverse sources to give a second look at the prevalence of this silent killer. People should develop the habit of going for a test before treatment. The cost of testing should be made reasonable otherwise people would resort to self diagnosis and taking herbs or medications they had taken before.
