Regional administrations urged to combat malaria

Regional administrations urged to combat malaria

A. Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government has asked regional administrations to participate
intensively in the fight against malaria, which has returned due
to the prolonged economic crisis and social conflicts.

"We (the central and local governments) should join hand-in-
hand to eradicate malaria," I Nyoman Kandun, an expert staff of
the Ministry of Health, said at a seminar on malaria and poverty
here.

Kandun attributed the reemergence of malaria, which had
previously been declared vanished in most parts of the country,
to the decline in health services and environmental quality as a
result of the economic crisis that has plagued the country since
1997.

He said continuing social conflicts in some parts of Indonesia
had also decreased the quality of life and contributed to the
return of the disease.

Since the economic crisis started, malaria has killed 40,000
people on average, with endemic areas covering 65 percent of the
country's 416 regencies and municipalities.

Almost all regencies in Papua and East Nusa Tenggara are still
affected by the disease.

Regional autonomy is also believed to have contributed to
difficulties the country faces in combating malaria, as most
regional administrations have concentrated on economic and
revenue-generating programs, instead of health services.

Another speaker at the seminar, Central Java Governor
Mardiyanto, supported Kandun's theory.

He said last year, the number of poor people in the province
increased to 23.06 percent of its 7.3 million population, while
malaria cases went up to 1.79 per 1,000 people, from only 0.33
per 1,000 people over the same period in 1997.

Intensified poverty eradication programs this year managed to
reduce the number of cases to 1.44 per 1,000 people.

Meanwhile, Simeulue Regent Darmili said his regency had
allocated Rp 14.19 billion (US$1.6 million) of its Rp 119 billion
budget toward health services this year, up from Rp 12 billion
last year.

"We hope the increase will help us eradicate malaria," he
said. Fifty percent of Simeulue island, located off Aceh, is
vulnerable to malaria.

This year, malaria outbreaks occurred along Java's southern
coast, such as in Cilacap and the Manoreh highlands in Central
Java.

The disease has also emerged in forest and swampy areas
recently, affecting villages in Indragiri Hilir regency, Riau,
and claiming 37 lives. Malaria has also hit villages in the
Minahasa, Bolaang Mongondow and Sangihe Talaud regencies in North
Sulawesi, which recorded over 450,000 malaria cases last year.

Malaria symptoms include high fever, headache and vomiting
that last from nine to 14 days.