Region One Health and Wellbeing boost from Govt.

May 19, 2024 Letters

---

Dear Editor,

This is indeed quite remarkable. I am referring here to the news that “… the Government of Guyana, through the Ministry of Health, (just) launched the “Malaria Elimination Initiative” in Region One. This is significant because despite continued efforts, malaria remains a significant public health challenge, with both malaria incidence and mortality higher now than they were before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. This scenario is exacerbated by the growing impact of climate change, which, alongside other challenges, threatens to reverse progress in the fight against the disease.

What is quite good to note is that this “Malaria Elimination Initiative” is evidence, yet again of the nation’s ongoing and ever-improving healthcare infrastructure, which was alluded to by Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh, when, in Budget 2024, he had announced a substantial injection of $129.8 billion into Guyana’s health sector for the year this year. This allocation, now paying great dividends, is a noteworthy increase of $38.9 billion compared to the previous year’s budget.

Right off the bat, this elimination drive represents a big boost in the fight against malaria in the country, and forms part of the overall enhancing of the health and well-being of residents. According to Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, “… the essential endeavour is a significant step towards eradicating malaria from Region One and improving the health and well-being of the residents.”

He informed all that “Malaria is a preventable and treatable disease, but it still poses a significant health risk in Regions One, Seven, Eight, and Nine. By launching this initiative, we are committing to intensify our efforts to control and eliminate malaria in all endemic regions. The initiative will involve several activities, such as community education and awareness campaigns, distributing insecticide-treated bed nets, and implementing vector-control measures. We will also work closely with healthcare providers to ensure the early diagnosis and prompt treatment of malaria cases.”

To the Minister’s words, I add that malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by parasites that are transmitted to people through the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes. It is preventable and curable. There are 5 parasite species that cause malaria in humans, and 2 of these species – Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax – pose the greatest threat.

Editor, I am very touched by the concerted effort I am reading about regarding this very important mission. I see that “The Health Ministry sealed the Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) with the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA), the Guyana Women Miners Organisation, the Ministry of Labour (OSH Department) and the US Embassy. This is awesome. It reflects the support that can be garnered when the government is executing a worthy project in a manner that is professional, ethical and transparent.

So, I am most pleased that “Under this agreement, the MoH and the partnering stakeholders are pledging to collaborate in targeting vulnerable populations for malaria elimination … aiming to reduce cases of plasmodium falciparum (the parasite causing malaria) by 2025 and achieving malaria-free status by 2030, as determined by the MoH, Vector Control Services Department.”

Since geographical challenges exist and many need to access care at the health facilities the Ministry’s implementation herein also includes a programme to train stakeholders in diagnosing and treating malaria cases. In his charge, the Minister explained that “We recognise that where our health centres are located, they may be far away from where we’re seeing cases for malaria and what we’ve seen in surveys that we have done is that a lot of cases are in the mining and logging camps.

So, what we decided to do, we want to work with mining camps through the various associations and we want to teach you how to make the diagnoses for Malaria, and we’re making it very simple because we will be giving you rapid tests.”

On the part of citizens, I hope that all will play their part and remain alert using preventative means such as screening of doors and windows to keep out mosquitoes from buildings. Also, in terms of the environment, citizens can help by getting rid of mosquito breeding sites such as draining marshes, swamps. After all, malaria is a treatable issue, and according to the World Health Organisation, “A shift in the global malaria response is urgently needed across the entire malaria ecosystem to prevent avoidable deaths and achieve the targets of the said WHO global malaria strategy … “This shift should seek to address the root causes of the disease and be centred around accessibility, efficiency, sustainability, equity and integration.”

Guyana is definitely doing a great job.

Yours truly,

H.B. Singh

---

• COVID-19, Government, Guyana, H.B. Singh, Wellbeing

---