Eliminating malaria a challenge: WHO

 By EUNAR NOREEN KARATU  

Eliminating malaria in PNG will not happen overnight, World Health Organisation country representative Dr Pieter Van Maaren says.

“PNG still has a lot of malaria cases, so elimination is not something that will happen within the next few years,” he said.

He said the purpose of the malaria workshop that was held in Port Moresby last week was to discuss the elimination of malaria in PNG.

 However, it would take some time.

WHO  technical officer for the malaria programme Dr Abdur Rashid said during the workshop that the purpose of the elimination scenario planning tool (ESP) was discussed and how it should be improved. 

“ESP means that a country wants to move from malaria control to a different stage called elimination.

“There are different steps to be followed,” Rashid said.