News Article
From Xinhua News Agency
HEADLINE:
UAE Succeeding in Malaria Control
BYLINE: By Bronwen Roberts
DATELINE: Abu Dhabi, August 15, 1999; ITEM NO: 0815075
The transmission of malaria has been successfully controlled in the United Arab
Emirates (UAE) due to the preventive measures taken by the ministry of health.
"all malaria cases diagnosed in the last six years in the UAE were found in
expatriates or those who visited countries plagued with the disease," reported
gulf today daily on sunday. there are 12 mobile teams to monitor malaria across
the country, and every year, a malaria test is conducted in 50,000 random blood
samples, Dr. Mahmoud Fikri, assistant under-secretary for preventive
medicine at
the ministry of health, told the paper. all the malaria cases diagnosed have
been treated locally, he added. he said the ministry is coordinating with the
World Health Organization to test a new method to control malaria by using a
biological fish to kill the larva that causes malaria instead of using chemical
insecticides. natural breeding grounds of the Anopheles mosquitoes, which
transmit the disease, are limited in the uae and have been further reduced
during this summer. some 83,005 potential breeding grounds in the uae were
identified and checked in 1994, of which only 1,493 showed the presence of the
Anopheles mosquitoes. a delegation from the ministry will attend the regional
consultation meeting on the "Roll Back Malaria" program, to be held in Cairo,
Egypt, from September 14 to 16. fikri said the meeting is aimed at exposing the
countries in the eastern Mediterranean region to the strategic plan for
implementation of the program.
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