DAR ES SALAAM, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian authorities said on Thursday that they have stepped up measures to fight malaria, including distributing 236,420 liters of biological anti-mosquito pesticides across the country.

Ummy Mwalimu, the Minister for Health, told parliament in the capital Dodoma that the anti-malaria pesticides were specifically being used to destroy mosquito larvae.

She told the House that after taking various measures to fight the disease, including the distribution of the anti-malaria pesticides, the malaria prevalence rate has dropped to 7.3 percent in 2017 from 14.8 percent in 2016.

She said the achievements were made following strengthened national health systems, the level of investment in malaria control and a number of other strides taken by the government.

Mwalimu said after the measures taken by the government to fight malaria, the World Health Organization (WHO) awarded her ministry with a certificate of recognition.

However, the minister said malaria continued to remain one of the major threats to public health, causing hundreds of deaths annually.

Currently in Tanzania, 90 percent of the population lives in areas that carry a high risk of malaria transmission, according to the National Malaria Control Program.

Mwalimu also presented a catalogue of priorities set by the ministry for the next fiscal year that begins in July to improve health services provision in the country.

The priorities included the strengthening of vaccination services to children where she explained that up to December last year, all of the targeted children had been vaccinated.