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Health Min. to roll out programme aimed at eradicating malaria in two years – Dr. Anthony
Kaieteur News- The Ministry of Health will soon implement a programme to distribute medication to residents in regions where malaria is endemic.
Health Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony, told reporters, on Tuesday, that the aim of the programme is to eliminate the disease within two years. He was at the time speaking at his Ministry’s end-of-year press conference, held at his Brickdam, Georgetown office.
Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony (Health Min. to roll out programme)
Dr. Anthony said that Guyana has recorded about 24,000 cases of malaria for 2024, with the highest number being found in Regions One, Seven, Eight and Nine.
The government has already implemented various interventions, such as distributing mosquito nets, which have contributed to reducing malaria cases. However, a key factor in the ongoing efforts is the link between malaria and gold mining activities.
Dr. Anthony said that the Ministry of Health has been collaborating with the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA) to train miners on how to detect malaria cases and properly treat affected individuals. This initiative is expected to further reduce malaria cases in mining communities.
In addition to these measures, the Ministry of Health is developing a new malaria control plan.
While citing that the government’s previous aim was to control the disease, Dr. Anthony explained, “We (Government) now… we want the new plan that we are developing… is looking at how we can eliminate malaria from Guyana, so no longer do we want to live with malaria; we want to eliminate it from Guyana.”
As part of this new strategy, the government and partners are working on malaria interventions in Region Nine, where a high concentration of cases had been observed.
“We are looking at Region Nine … there is a specific area where we are seeing the most malaria cases and we are putting in some interventions in that area…. We are very confident that within in a year to two years that we will be able to reduce significantly the amount of cases in Region Nine,” Dr. Anthony said.
The success of this initiative in Region Nine will then be used as a model to replicate the interventions in other endemic areas.
Furthermore, the Ministry of Health is finalizing plans to provide medication to all individuals living in malaria endemic regions, a similar approach to that taken during the filarial treatment campaign.
Currently, the Ministry is evaluating the technical feasibility and cost of implementing this widespread exercise.
(Health Min. to roll out programme aimed at eradicating malaria in two years – Dr. Anthony)
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