WHO sounds global malaria warning, numbers in Oman show sharp rise

(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) With a new report issued by World Health Organization (WHO) revealing that 17 per cent of communicable diseases worldwide are borne by vectors, a top official in Oman has pointed to a rise in the number of people hit by one such disease in the country – malaria.

According to the WHO report titled, ‘Global Brief on Vector Borne Diseases', one-sixth of the illness and disability suffered worldwide is due to vector-borne diseases, with more than half the world's population currently estimated to be at risk.

Malaria is the most deadly vector-borne disease, it says, adding that in 2012, there were about 207mn cases of malaria and an estimated 627,000 deaths worldwide. ‘Every one minute, a child dies of malaria,' it states.

Vectors are organisms – such as mosquitoes - that transmit pathogens and parasites from one infected person to another, putting their health at risk, at home and during travel.

Reacting to the WHO report, Dr Majed S al Zedjali, director, Department of Malaria Eradication and Disease Surveillance coordinator at the Ministry of Health (MoH), highlighted a worrying rise in the number of malaria cases in Oman.

 ''Cases of malaria in the country have risen from 898 in 2009 to 2,051 in 2012,'' the senior official told Muscat Daily.

The last annual report of MoH (2012) that was released recently says that control over malaria transmission had been achieved in 2004 and maintained till September 2007 when focus of local transmission (territory from where it was being transmitted) was detected in Dakhliyah.

In 2008, another territory was detected in North Batinah. In 2009, no local transmission occurred, but three territories were detected in North Sharqiyah the next year with a total of 24 cases.

In 2011, there were 13 cases of local transmission in North Sharqiyah and Dakhliyah, 22 the next year in South and North Sharqiyah and North Batinah.

Of the total of 2,051 cases recorded in Oman in 2012, the majority (98.9 per cent) were imported except 22, which were locally transmitted, the MoH report stated.

Dr Ala Alwan, WHO regional director for Eastern Mediterranean, outlined some of the main challenges of preventing vector-borne diseases, including the lack of vaccines. He said, ''Collaboration between different sectors is essential to control vectors and protect people from disease. Ministries of health, agriculture, and municipalities, as well as communities, need to work together to implement an integrated vector management approach.''

In its latest report, WHO has called for governments to have strong surveillance systems for detecting vector-borne diseases besides their rapid diagnosis and treatment.

€˜Every year more than 1bn people are infected and more than 1mn people die from vector-borne diseases including malaria, dengue, schistosomiasis, leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, yellow fever, lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis,' it states.

As per the WHO report, dengue is the most rapidly spreading mosquito-borne viral disease in the world. In the past 50 years, incidence has increased 30-fold with geographical expansion to new countries. ‘The disease is now endemic in more than 100 countries in Africa, the Americas, the Eastern Mediterranean, South-East Asia and the Western Pacific.'

Dr Zedjali pointed out that in Oman three imported cases of dengue were recorded in 2009. ''We have had ten cases in 2010, 16 in 2011 and 17 in 2012, which were all imported,'' he added