Mining activities driving malaria cases up in Guyana

Nov 13, 2022 News

Health Facts …

Kaieteur News – Within the past decade, health services workers have been aggressively moving to address malaria in Guyana. According to a research paper publicized by the World Health Organization (WHO) Dr. Horace Cox, Director of Vector-Borne Diseases at the Ministry of Health, revealed that Guyana represents about 3% of cases in the Americas with about 20 000 cases recorded annually.

The information which was published in April of this year outlined that malaria infections occur primarily in the hinterland and forested regions of the country since a lot of gold and diamond mining and logging activities happen there.

Dr. Cox explained the population is very mobile in the hinterland and workers travel to remote areas to engage in mining, where there are few, or no, established health facilities, and therefore access to health services can be very limited.

Coupled with high illiteracy rates among this population, this makes it more difficult to reach them with timely malaria prevention interventions, diagnosis, and treatment. According to Dr. Cox, Guyana’s malaria control programme aspires to a 75% reduction in malaria cases by 2025 relative to 2015 figures, and a 90% reduction by 2030.

Given the interventions being put in place, he said the Ministry of Health expects to achieve – or almost achieve – those objectives by the deadlines.

At present, Dr. Cox said that there is a correlation between gold prices and malaria cases in Guyana.

He said: “… It’s something we’ve documented through detailed studies we carried out and published in peer-reviewed journals. These studies have allowed us to understand the impacts of these populations’ remoteness as well as their barriers to accessing health services.”

Using that knowledge, Dr. Cox said that the Ministry has trained individuals in mining communities to use rapid tests to diagnose malaria cases, treat simple cases free of charge and report data using a simplified tool.

He said “We began in 2016 and have since scaled it up in several regions…By detecting and treating cases early on, we can break transmission and reduce malaria numbers, helping us accelerate progress along the malaria elimination continuum. This approach helps ensure that remote populations have the same access to health services as those in settled communities.”

According to Dr. Cox, within each camp setting, health ministry teams work to identify and train two individuals who show leadership potential, have a more permanent presence in the camp, and are interested in playing a role in malaria prevention and control.

“For example,” he said, “this might mean we train a camp manager or a cook instead of a worker who might leave tomorrow morning. Other times, we’ll train village leaders or shop owners who interact with miners on a regular basis.”

These individuals, he noted are trained on how to administer tests and treatments for uncomplicated cases, and they keep a daily-case register, manually recording demographic data and diagnosis.

“Our teams also visit the camps on a regular basis to collect data and provide additional support,” he added.

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