Malaria cases down on Batam

BATAM ISLAND: Health authorities remain watchful for malaria although reports indicate the disease has subsided over the past five years.

Head of the Batam health office, Mawardi Badar, said the local government is cooperating with neighboring Singapore to fight malaria.

He said the government is set to make the fast developing industrial island malaria-free.

Official statistics show that the number of people on Batam infected with malaria has declined from 4,099 in 1989 to 1,100 people in April this year.

The number of deaths from the mosquito-borne disease also dropped from 18 people in 1987 to 12 in 1988. There have been no reported deaths since 1989, Antara reported. (pan)