Government to fight malaria outbreak

SEMARANG (JP): The government will conduct a five-month program to contain the outbreak of malaria in Java and Bali, following a recent outbreak of the disease in villages at the foot of Menoreh mountain that borders regencies in Yogyakarta and Central Java.

Director General of Contagious Diseases Eradication and Environmental Sanitation Umar Fahmi Achmadi said here on Tuesday that the program, conducted in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. government, will focus on villages in the Central Java regencies of Purworejo and Magelang and their neighboring regency of Kulon Progo in Yogyakarta.

"The three regencies are considered areas most prone to the disease in Java," Umar said.

Umar was speaking at the Central Java's Ministry of Health and Social Welfare office to promote the program. He is also slated to brief health officials in Yogyakarta and Surabaya.

In targeted villages, the effort will include spraying insecticide in all homes and distributing treated mosquito nets to residents.

Stressing that malaria has become one of the country's top priorities to eradicate, Umar said that all doctors in the areas will monitor residents for active cases of malaria and provide effective drugs to treat cases when they occur.

"However, the local community will play the leading role in detecting malaria cases, observing proper treatment and monitoring side effects of the medicines," he said.

The U.S. government has provided US$500,000 to finance the program.

Technical assistance for the project will be given by WHO and the U.S. Navy Medical Research Unit No. 2 (NAMRU-2) which is based in Jakarta.

Some 50 years ago, a massive intervention effort supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) was successful in eradicating malaria in Bali and East and West Java and brought it under control in Central Java.

The disease reappeared in mid-1990s, but the recent economic crisis has constrained funding for malaria control activities. As a result infection rates have accelerated and there is now potential for endemic malaria to regain its foothold. (har/bby)