ADB assists fight against malaria

BANJARMASIN, S. Kalimantan: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has earmarked Rp 460 million for the construction of a center to assist in the province's fight against malaria.

The head of the provincial health office, Soejano H, was quoted as saying by Antara that the malaria station would be constructed on a one-hectare plot in Batulicin, Kotabaru district, where Anopheles mosquitoes, the carrier of malaria, proliferate.

The station is expected to help the local government intensify its program combating malaria.

The ADB has also extended a Rp 3 billion soft loan to finance a program for the eradication of contagious diseases in Central Sulawesi.

"This loan, the first for Central Sulawesi, will be spent on efforts to eradicate tuberculosis, acute respiratory tract infections, measles and polio," the head of the provincial health office, M Akib Kamaluddin, said Monday in the Central Sulawesi capital of Palu.

He added that the fund would be utilized to purchase medical instruments and medicine and to cover the operational costs of field workers.