Latest update April 10th, 2025 1:57 PM
Latest News
- GRA must explain initial low tax assessment for vehicles imported by Mohameds –AG Nandlall
- Govt to pay fees for up to eight CSEC subjects for students–Pres Ali
- ‘Gaza is a ‘killing field’, says UN chief
- Linden man was still alive when dumped into minibus
- School girl beaten, forced to drink bleach by bullies in washroom
Measures in place to deal with challenges of malaria
(From the desk of the Vector Control Director, Dr Reyaud Rahman)
Malaria can be regarded as a dangerous disease with the potential to cause death in any individual who is infected. The most dangerous type of malaria is called Plasmodium falciparum (if left un-treated 90 per cent of persons will die). The two other types of malaria, Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium malariae (found in Guyana), are not known to cause death in those affected, but can cause severe symptoms in persons infected.
Malaria is transmitted by an infected mosquito that has bitten someone with malaria and has become infected by the disease also. This cycle continues from man to mosquito until the transmission is broken, either the person is treated or the mosquito dies. There is a specific type of mosquito which transmits malaria in Guyana, known as the Anopheles darlinghi. Only female mosquitoes bite and draw blood and this is mainly because it helps with the fertilization of their eggs.
Dr. Reyaud Rahman
They are mostly found in hinterland locations mainly in regions One, Seven, Eight and Nine of Guyana. These mosquitoes mostly bite around dusk and dawn, meaning that if you were to stay under a net or protect yourself you would be minimizing your chances of getting malaria, because you will minimize your chances of being bitten.
An individual can protect him or herself by doing several things including: trying not to get bitten by wearing long-sleeved clothing if possible(light-coloured clothing is preferred), wearing socks, using repellents, using mosquito coils, using aerosol sprays and sleeping under a bed net.
Due to the vastness, density and dangerous terrain in Guyana it is extremely challenging to eliminate this mosquito and prevent malaria transmission.
However, there are a few tools which we (the Ministry of Health’s Vector Control Services Unit) can normally use, and these have been scaled up. We expect that these interventions will have positive impact in our fight against malaria.
Over the years the Government has invested millions of dollars in Long Lasting Insecticidal Nets (LLIN’s) which we have distributed in all parts of our four endemic regions. We have increased the capacity of the health care workers (training in all aspects of vector control) by ensuring that they can make correct and high quality diagnoses in order to treat cases early and break disease transmission. There have been interventions set up to educate the affected population by distributing education material to make persons aware about the disease and teach them how to protect themselves.
There have been more areas covered to ensure that all affected persons are diagnosed and treated according to the National Malaria Treatment Guidelines. By doing so we have broken disease transmission, helped persons in hard-to-reach locales, treated them free of charge and ensured that they did not suffer or die due to malaria.
The year 2015 will be a significant one in the fight against malaria. We expect to further build and strengthen our system and put other proven interventions, new strategies, and tools to further decrease our malaria burden.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
Does the PNCR really want to go down this road?
Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News- By the time I reached the fourth cup of chamomile tea—don’t judge me, it’s calming—I... more
Weekend Cartoon
