Malaria toll drops sharply
Ha Noi, March 6 (VNA) -- Malaria morbility dropped by 14.2 percent and death rate by 22.1 percent last year compared with 1999.
A two-day workshop, opened in Ha Noi on March 6, was told that last year 293,016 people across the country were infected with the disease of these 148 died.
The number of the epidemics also decreased to just two against eight the previous year.
The success was attributed to the Malaria and Parasite Institute's efforts to strictly control epidemics in possible hotbeds such as among workers building the trans-Viet Nam Ho Chi Minh Highway and the Central Highlands.
The workshop focused experiences gained from coping with the habit of minority people to sleep amid their maze crops in central Nghe An province, managing rotary funds for buying mosquitto nets in northern mountain Ha Giang province and controlling migrant flows from northern-mountain Lai Chau province.
The participants agreed that the lessons learned could be used in all 61 provinces and cities this year.
This year's budget for the fight against malaria is likely to reach VND 100 billion, with half coming from World Bank loans and the remainder from the domestic sources. The funding is to be spent mostly in hotbed places and to prevent epidemics.
The Health Ministry took this opportunity to award an Emulation Banner to three provinces, Lai Chau in the north, Khanh Hoa in the centre, and Binh Phuoc in the south, for their success in malaria control.--VNA
