January 28, 2005, 09:45
Outbreaks of malaria in Aceh may be fewer than before the tsunami that made a half-million homeless, due to intense preventive programmes by aid workers, a British private aid group said on today. Despite so many people living in squalid outdoor camps with pools of mosquito-breeding water everywhere, malaria may not be the problem it was first feared, said Manuel Lluberas, head of Mentor Initiative's malaria control team in the Indonesian province. "Considering the amount of exposure, I don't think (the number of cases) will be any different than any other season. It could be comparable, it could be less. If we could keep it at the same level, that would be a success," he told Reuters.
Malaria is endemic to Aceh as it is in other parts of tropical Indonesia. Joaquim Canelas, the Mentor team leader in Aceh, said the group hoped to have fewer cases than in previous rainy seasons because of all the malaria prevention programmes being undertaken.
By contrast, the World Health Organisation warned on Thursday that Aceh and other tsunami-affected areas of Asia have become vulnerable to mosquito-borne diseases. Stagnant water pools left by the December 26 tsunami have created perfect conditions for mosquitoes to multiply, said Dr. Jack Chow, the WHO's assistant director-general responsible for malaria. "We are very concerned about the advent of both the malaria and dengue fever season," he told reporters in Banda Aceh. He said the rains and the extent of physical destruction, with open sources of water, would increase the breeding of the two species of mosquitioes that transmit dengue and malaria.
Mentor said it has provided some 700 insecticide-treated tarpaulins for people living in shelters in the last few days, although Canelas said it was not easy to get people to switch from their old shelters.
Mentor, working with the Indonesian Ministry of Health, had been involved in designing relocation centres and would also spray them in a manner that would kill every malaria-carrying mosquito for 6-8 months, he said.
The group, which received $1.5 million from the British government for the work, has also deployed 150 people to spray every home in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh.
About 70% of the homes had been done so far, Canelas said. After that, the group intended to move out in force to outlying areas. "If need be, we will spray a whole town," he said.
Aceh was worst-hit in the December 26 earthquake and tsunami that swamped coastal regions of a dozen Indian Ocean nations, with 101 199 bodies buried so far and 127 749 listed as missing.
Nearly 300 000 people have been confirmed dead or are missing around the Indian Ocean after the undersea earthquake and ensuing tsunami, the worst in recorded history. - Reuters
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