Lanka on track to eliminate malaria
 Sri Lanka has succeeded in reducing malaria cases by 99.9 percent
since 1999 and is on track to eliminate the disease completely by 2014,
shows a study. Researchers from Sri Lanka's Anti-Malaria Campaign and
the University of California San Francisco Global Health Group examined
national malaria data and interviewed staff of the country's malaria
program to determine the factors behind the success in controlling
malaria, despite a 26-year conflict that ended in 2009.
Typically, countries with conflict experience weakening of their
malaria control programs and an increased risk of outbreaks and
epidemics, the researchers said, the journal Public Library of Science
ONE reported.
Chief among its keys to success was the program's ability to be
flexible and adapt to changing conditions, the study found.For instance,
to protect hard-to-reach, displaced populations, public health workers
deployed mobile clinics equipped with malaria diagnostics and
anti-malarial drugs, whenever it was safe to do so, according to a
statement of the Anti-Malaria Campaign.
Likewise, when it was impossible to routinely spray insecticides in
homes in conflict zones, the malaria program distributed long-lasting
insecticide-treated nets, engaging non-governmental partner
organisations familiar with the areas to help with distribution.
The program was able to sustain key prevention and surveillance
activities in such areas through support from partner organisations and
support from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
"Sustaining the gains of elimination efforts and preventing
resurgence is even more challenging today, especially in tropical
settings such as Sri Lanka," said Ravindra Abeyasinghe, who led the
research at the Anti-Malaria Campaign. w"In this era, sustaining the
interest of partners and local decision makers, and ensuring continued
funding, are becoming increasingly difficult.
To avoid the tragic mistakes of the past, we must resolve to continue
to devote the necessary resources and energy to the fight against
malaria in Sri Lanka," he said. "It is very exciting to document Sri
Lanka's current progress toward malaria elimination, to add another
chapter to our country's ongoing fight against the disease," said Gawrie
Galappaththy, study co-author.
However, she said, achieving zero malaria will require continued
investments and hard work.
- IANS
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