Malaria Cases in Indonesia Increase to About 3M in 2007, Health Official Says

Between 2.5 million and three million malaria cases were recorded in Indonesia in 2007, compared with 1.8 million cases recorded in 2006, Rita Kusriastuti, the malaria subdivision head at the Ministry of Health, said on Sunday, the Jakarta Post reports. Kusriastuti said the increase in the number of malaria cases is because of the "formation of health agencies" in new regions of the country, which has increased access to health care in "outlying areas" and helped health officials "discover" more malaria cases. She said Papua is the province that is most vulnerable to malaria in the country.

Although the government has obtained enough malaria drugs, the distribution of the drugs has been inefficient, Kusriastuti said. "Thousands of malaria drugs have piled up in warehouses and then expired," she said. She added that Indonesia, like China, should work to develop traditional medicines to treat malaria.

According to Kusriastuti, migration to new areas is another reason for the increase in the number of malaria cases. Malaria transmission often occurs in newly settled areas, especially in tropical forests, according to health experts. New settlements increase the number of mosquito breeding sites, which can result in malaria outbreaks, the Post reports. New migrants often lack the education to prevent malaria transmission, and they also have not built up immunity to the disease. Climate change also has been associated with increases in malaria cases, according to the Post. Erna Tresnaningsih, director of animal-borne diseases at the health ministry, said that warmer weather can shorten mosquito life cycles, potentially doubling the number of insects born in a given period. "We'll have more mosquitoes that need a shorter time to mature and will immediately seek the blood they need to breed," she said (Jakarta Post, 1/21).