Increase in malaria linked to private sector ‘bad habits’

May 11, 2009 News

– Health Minister
Failure on the part of some private sector entities to adhere to the warnings of the Ministry of Health was cited as one of the major factors that could have led to an increase in Plasmodium falciparum, a form of malaria, which has the potential of causing death.
Health Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy made this disclosure on Saturday when he held a press conference at the Health Ministry’s Brickdam headquarters.

Minister of Health, Dr Leslie Ramsammy

According to the Minister, based on daily reports that were drawn from various parts of the country for the first quarter of this year, there have been almost 1,300 reported cases of Plasmodium falciparum. For the same period last year there were just about 1000 cases reported, he added.
“That may not be plenty but it is worrying to me…this is the more serious type of malaria that could cause death and already we have 250 more than we had in the first quarter last year.”
And one of the major reasons for the current state-of-affairs is the fact that some members of the private sector have resorted to ‘bad habits’, the Minister speculated.
He pointed out that the Ministry was able to gain successes in the past two years in fighting all forms of malaria after the private sector had heeded warnings to desist selling malaria drugs.
“The private sector had stopped in terms of buying and selling malaria drugs but I have found in Region Seven and Eight in particular that the private sector has resorted to procuring this medicine which is a single dose. They are buying Artemisinin which is one of the drugs in the combination we have.”
Minister Ramsammy pointed out that the Ministry had some time ago stopped people from using monotherapy (therapy which is taken by itself) because of resistance issues, adding that it appears that the private sector has gone back to selling it in local shops.
As such the Minister said that he has instructed the Food and Drug Department to engage an inspection process.
“Any time we find single does medication such as Artemisinin we will seize it…The Ministry will not be flexible. I am warning the private sector that this single dose drug is not permitted and I am requesting people not to purchase malaria drugs from the private sector….”
And according to the Minister, the move is not intended to be an “anti-private sector thing” since it is geared at being beneficial to the general public. He explained that with the increased use of the single dose drug an individual’s resistance would increase and cause greater spread of Plasmodium falciparum.
Another contributory factor to the increase in the vector borne disease is the fact that persons are no longer making use of impregnated mosquito nets that were distributed by the Health Ministry.
“Because malaria is not rampant, people are not utilising the nets. As I visit the areas it is clear that people are not utilising the nets,” the Minister noted.
For this reason, he said that the Ministry would this year distribute 30,000 nets in Regions One, Seven, Eight and Nine, which account for 93 per cent of all malaria in Guyana. A lesser incidence of about 400 cases is usually found in Region 10 but according to the Minister there has been evidence that the Region’s cases are surpassing that of Region Nine, thus the need for closer attention.
However, he noted that there has been significant progress in the general fight against malaria as the Ministry has been able to sustain its control of the disease. In the first quarter of last year there were 28,090 cases of the several strains of malaria and the first quarter of this year 28,093 cases have been reported.
There has also been a notable reduction in Plasmodium vivax, a mild form of malaria, the Minister added. So far for this year there have been 1,388 reported cases as opposed to 1,750 last year.