War on malaria goes up a notch

INdeed the call to the Government and its partners to make the fight against malaria a development priority is timely because malaria remains the single biggest development challenge to a developing country like Papua New Guinea.
Malaria is identified by World Health Organisation as a disease that continues to threaten human health globally.
In 2016 alone, malaria caused 445,000 deaths and infected 332 million people.
Malaria is one of the biggest public health problems in PNG, with constant transmission in most of the coastal and island regions and seasonal outbreaks in the highlands.
Malaria affects over 90 per cent of PNG’s total population.
It is one of the most common causes of morbidity or sickness. On average, a person suffers from three episodes of malaria a year and that should be a concern.
This is evident with about 850,000 clinical malaria cases reported annually from our health facilities.
Health Department deputy secretary Dr Pasion Dakulala says the above figure translates to about 10 out of every 100 attendances at health facilities. And mortality/deaths accounting for about 3-5 per cent or five out of every 100 deaths reported at health facility level.
In commemorating World Malaria Day yesterday, representatives from the governments of Papua New Guinea, China and Australia gathered to mark their cooperation to ending malaria for good in PNG.
The good news is that the governments are jointly implementing the Australia-China-Papua New Guinea Trilateral Malaria Project.
The project is funded by the Australian Government and supports leading experts from PNG, China and Australia to improve malaria diagnosis and carry out research to inform malaria policy and programme decision-making.
China has never been a malaria hyperendemic country. The Chinese National Malaria Elimination Action is stable and moving forward after China launched its Malaria Elimination Action in 2010.
China is targeting to achieve the goal of malaria elimination by 2020 and is willing to assist other countries like PNG eliminate malaria too.
World Malaria Day presented an opportunity to remember lives lost or health compromised by malaria, especially in PNG.
It is also a day to remember and to plan for future action, to raise awareness on malaria-related health issues, and reflect on lessons for preventing, controlling and eliminating malaria in PNG.
For now, the most effective treatment is available in all health facilities in PNG.
The rapid tests to diagnose malaria is also available in all health facilities to assist clinical staff confirm all suspected malaria cases and treat effectively.
Malaria has not received the attention it rightfully deserves as a major public health problem.
Everybody suspects malaria every time they have a fever or a headache.
The word “malaria” is quite common that almost every illness falls within the category of
malaria but this should not be the case.
This is why, testing to confirm that you have malaria is very important so that you can be treated with the correct medicine that are available in all health centres throughout the country.
The challenge now is for all partners to work together to prevent, control and eliminate malaria in PNG.