South Africa will join the rest of the continent on Wednesday in observing Africa Malaria Day, to draw world attention to a disease that kills nearly 800 000 Africans every year.
According to the World Health Organisation, nearly 3 000 children die every day around the world because of malaria, along with 10 000 pregnant African women every year.
But this year, South Africa's continued use of the notorious pesticide DDT as a weapon against malaria is under renewed scrutiny after alarming medical research that suggests that hundreds of young South African men have low sperm counts and are less fertile because of DDT spraying campaigns.
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Two weeks ago, the University of Pretoria's School of Public Health published the results of a new study on male fertility in Limpopo and concluded that there was now sufficient evidence for the department of health to be concerned about the health impacts of DDT - and to consider moving towards safer, alternative methods for malaria control.
'There is simply no comparison of the human health risks associated with DDT' The study was published in the international peer-reviewed Journal of Andrology and, according to project leader Professor Tiaan de Jager, there was clear evidence of abnormally low sperm counts, lower semen volumes, slower-moving sperm and fewer viable sperm in 311 men tested in the Thoyohandou/Vhembe area of Limpopo.
For the past two weeks, media spokesperson for department of health in Pretoria have failed to respond to The Mercury's queries on DDT usage.
De Jager's studies also contradict assurances from the World Health Organisation that the use of DDT poses no danger to public health if used correctly to spray houses.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the lobby group Africa Fighting Malaria has dismissed the results of the University of Pretoria studies as "weak and statistically insignificant".
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