Health experts warn of possible malaria outbreak

Health experts warn of a possible malaria outbreak in Kyrgyzstan, the south of which was affected by the disease last year. "A possible outbreak of malaria, especially in the southern provinces of Kyrgyzstan, can happen this year," Nurbolot Usenbaev, the deputy director-general of the sanitary-epidemic inspection department of the health ministry, told IRIN from the capital, Bishkek. Whereas there had been only 28 officially registered cases of malaria in 2001, that number rose to 2,744 in 2002, he noted. According to Usenbaev, malaria had been largely confined to the southern provinces of Osh, Jalal-Abad and Batken, most likely as a result of the disease's prevalence in Tajikistan and Afghanistan. "The southern provinces of Kyrgyzstan are close to Tajikistan, which borders on Afghanistan, where there has been a steady number of malaria cases for a few years," Usenbaev said. "Moreover, there is an intense migration between those countries, and the borders are quite porous," he added. He noted that the heavy rains of previous years had fuelled the propagation of mosquitoes. "One of the biggest problems is the lack of the insecticides and sprays necessary for fighting malaria mosquitoes," he said. "Today, we have more than 40 officially registered cases of malaria in the south," Usenbaev said, noting that there were many swamps and reservoirs in the country. Rice growing was on the rise, especially in the south, and rice plantations together with swamps and marshes were the mosquitoes' main breeding grounds. Echoing Usenbaev, Andrei Zvantsov, a consultant for the United Nation's World Health Organisation (WHO), told IRIN from the southwestern city of Osh that it was possible to anticipate a rise in malaria in the south this summer, noting the health ministry would begin using insecticides against the mosquitoes at the end of June. "Unfortunately our resources will not be sufficient to cover the whole region. We will work only in the most problematic areas," he said, adding that the 500 kg of insecticide provided by the WHO last year had only amounted to one-third of what had been needed. "Our main task this year is to restrain the epidemic's pressure, not to eliminate it," he said, pointing out that there were individuals - malaria carriers - coming in from Tajikistan, but detecting them was difficult due to a lack of equipment and personnel. Asked for estimates of the disease's prevalence, he stated that it was very difficult to arrive at figures. "According to the data available in Tajikistan, the detection rate there is about 10 percent. As far as Kyrgyzstan is concerned, there isn't any data to make it possible to arrive at estimates," he concluded. [For further information on Malaria see: www.rbm.who.int]