Malaria fighting project begins near Saudi border [Archives:2008/1136/Local News]
Hamed Thabet
SANA'A, March 8 ) An extensive Saudi-Yemeni campaign to combat malaria, which began March 3, will continue throughout this month in three Yemeni governorates near the border with Saudi Arabia, with the aim of reducing malaria in those areas.
Public Health and Population Minister Abdulkarim Rasa' said the campaign will target 13 districts near the Saudi-Yemeni border and parts of the Tihama region.
The campaign is targeting 263,319 citizens in more than 45,000 homes with anti-mosquito pesticide. According to Mohammed Al-Hinami, a senior official at the National Malaria Control Program, “Specialized teams will spray 141,335 rooms with effective anti-malaria pesticides,” he said, adding that more than 300 workers will carry out the campaign.
According to the World Health Organization office in Yemen, approximately 60 percent of Yemen's population lives in malarial areas. Yemen witnesses 800,000 to 900,000 malaria cases annually and approximately 12,000 die of the disease every year. Globally, malaria causes at least a million deaths per year.
The one-month campaign will enhance the successes achieved during the first phase conducted two months ago, but this campaign is more serious, which reveals the Saudi health ministry's readiness for increased cooperation in this field, said Hajjah Governor Farid Mujawar.
Earlier this year, a mosquito net campaign distributed 381,138 mosquito nets to 95 malaria-infected districts near the Saudi-Yemeni border and parts of the Tihama on Jan. 15. However, Hajjah governorate's Bani Qais and Aslam districts haven't received anything until now and still are awaiting their turn.
Mujawar added that authorities have asked locals in the targeted areas and districts to cooperate with the field teams in order to ease their job.
Malaria also is entering Yemen through infected Somali immigrants. New research shows that a high influx of Somalis represents a continued risk of reintroducing the parasite.
According to Yemen's Interior Ministry, malaria is the most widespread disease among refugees and more are arriving daily. There are approximately 800,000 African migrants in Yemen, mostly from the Horn of Africa, and most are Somali.
Another cause of malaria is the Plasmodium falciparum parasite, which causes 90 percent of Yemen's malaria cases, with WHO affirming that the parasite is responsible for the vast majority of malaria deaths.
Minister Rasa' notes, “Yemen can't truly combat malaria alone because it's a poor country with little resources,” which is why the Gulf states have supported Yemen with $47 million to fight malaria. Additionally, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has contributed to Yemen's anti-malaria program.
Rasa' emphasized the importance of activating Yemen and Saudi Arabia's malaria-fighting partnership, which began in 2001.
The National Malaria Control Program says the two countries aim to make the Arabian Peninsula malaria-free by 2015.
In this regard, 16,707 homes, inhabited by more than 100,000 residents were sprayed last March, thanks to a Saudi-Yemeni campaign in six border districts.
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