Indonesia Should Continue To Fight Malaria, President Says
Although the number of malaria deaths in Indonesia has decreased during the last few years, all sectors in the country need to work together to continue to reduce the number of malaria cases and deaths, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Thursday in Jakarta, Indonesia, Antara News reports (Antara News, 5/8).
Malaria was responsible for 0.92% of recorded deaths in the country in 2005, according to data from the Ministry of Health. In 2006, 0.42% of all deaths were a result of malaria, and the rate further declined to 0.2% of deaths in 2007. Yudhoyono said, "We should not be content with decreasing numbers. We have to strive to reach a zero fatality," adding, "I call on health officers to work hard by conducting effective and concrete measures to fight malaria." Yudhoyono said health officers should increase awareness of the disease by improving public education and information initiatives. According to Yudhoyono climate change has "widened mosquitoes' breeding areas" in the country, which has caused malaria to reemerge.
In commemoration of World Malaria Day, Yudhoyono provided about 2.1 million long-lasting insecticide-treated nets and 127,000 malaria drug packets for malaria-endemic provinces. The provinces are East Nusa Tenggara, Maluku, Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, North Maluku, North Sumatra, Papua and West Papua.
Since 2001, approximately 15 million people in Indonesia have contracted malaria, and the disease kills about 38,000 people annually, Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari said. Supari added that 45% of Indonesia's 230 million residents are at risk of contracting the disease. She said that most malaria cases occur in the Papua province and that a total of 424 regencies are considered to be malaria-endemic (Nurhayati, Jakarta Post, 5/9).
