Daniel in The Lion's Den | 923: Mosquitoes and Malaria XIII – Worldwide in Brief: Pakistan / Iran / Afghanistan / Iraq / India

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923: Mosquitoes and Malaria XIII – Worldwide in Brief: Pakistan / Iran / Afghanistan / Iraq / India

28 October, 2009

Malaria Policy Centre 5^th October 2009

At a recent conference, Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan formulated a joint annual action plan to lay down groundwork to fight malaria. Known as PIAMNET (Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan Malaria Network), the organisation planned to resolve administrative issues between the three countries and drafted proposals to help mobilize resources. Their efforts were not in vain – US-AID pledged resources, particularly in the border areas of Pakistan.

The chair-person at the conference urged the three countries to utilize indigenous resources to ensure cross-border co-operation in the highly endemic district of Balochistan, a province in south-east Pakistan.

AFGHANISTAN: half the population at risk of malaria. 14 million vulnerable

IRIN-News July 2009

Stagnant water in flood-affected parts of Afghanistan is the perfect breeding ground for malaria-causing mosquitoes. According to OCHA, the January-June floods affected over 21,000 households and caused extensive damage in over 15 of the country’s 34 provinces. At least 14 provinces in the north, east and south are highly vulnerable to malaria, especially in the summer.

According to the UN-WHO, Afghanistan had the fourth largest malaria burden worldwide with an estimated annual incidence of 18 per 1,000 people in 2007. According to the Ministry of Public Health, considerable progress had been made in curbing malaria – from 626,839 cases in 2002 to around 467,000 in 2008. A fall in numbers was also reported in the first three months of 2009 compared with the same period in 2008: 49,000 patients compared to over 53,000 – Kindly note that these are figures of reported cases only. Health officials said the distribution of 1.2 million insecticide-treated bed-nets in 2008 and improved public awareness contributed to the reduction in the number of malaria patients.

Malaria affects hundreds of thousands of Afghans every year, and also acts as a major brake on economic development.

Malaria in Iraq:

Prophylaxis is recommended for Basrah province and for areas at altitudes below 1500m (4921 ft) in the provinces of Duhok, Erbil, Ninawa, Sulaimaninya…Transmission occurs chiefly from May through November. The incidence of malaria has risen in recent years, due in part to political instability. There is no malaria risk in Baghdad, Tikrit, and Ramadi. For many years, the drug of choice has been chloroquine, which is inexpensive and generally well-tolerated. Insect protection measures are essential.

Malaria: The view from India

In India, malaria has become a hidden problem – or a problem that the authorities would rather hide

Global-Post by Shailaja Neelakantan June 2009

26 people died of malaria in a single hospital in the north-eastern Indian state of Assam this winter, but as far as the government is concerned, they might as well never have existed. The district administration reported no deaths, and nobody except members of a local NGO took any notice. India has always under-reported its malaria cases – government officials admit off the record – but the scope of the hidden problem has become astounding. While the official figures state that in 2008, India had 1.5 million malaria cases, resulting in 924 deaths, the real number of deaths was much higher. A doctor who works for the Ant, a volunteer organisation that treats villagers, said the numbers were a joke, and that in Assam alone they had at least 1,500 deaths last year. He added that unless one knew the level of the disease burden how could one plan to prevent or treat it? According to non-governmental sources and some government officials who didn't want to be named, the number of malaria-related deaths in India was closer to 40,000 in 2008. I say: multiply 40,000 by 10 and that would be even less…

Indeed, the under-reporting of malaria cases is one of the main reasons that India has been unable to prevent or treat malaria cases – they could be treated, perhaps, but never prevented. It has led to an astounding absence of knowledge, even among supposedly qualified private and government health officials and workers. Few know, for instance, that malaria occurs in different topographies for different reasons and must be prevented differently in each area.

These problems are further complicated by foreign agencies such as the WHO which, under the influence of global lending agencies like the World Bank and big pharmaceutical companies, have forced India to adopt prevention methods that don't suit local conditions and to initiate huge, ill-considered projects rather than targeted ones. For example, under the National Vector-Borne Disease Control Programme, the umbrella programme for prevention and control of malaria Horse-shit the Indian government has introduced new rapid diagnostic tests, put a legion of India's version of barefoot-doctors in the field and rushed to convert to expensive Artemisinin-based Combination Therapies. None of these tools is sufficient, according to the grassroots health workers who are fighting this disease in the jungles.

Posted by akill 17:51 | General | Comment(0) | Permalink

In India, malaria has become a hidden problem – or a problem that the authorities would rather hide

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