Hanoi (VNA) – A total of 145 billion VND (9.06 million USD) will be doled out for the fight against malaria in 2008, the Ministry of Public Health announced.
The budget will include 70 billion VND sourcing from the Global Fund against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and the rest, from the State budget.
This year, Vietnam targets to reduce the malaria-infected rate below 0.8 per 1,000 people and the mortality rate below 0.02 per 100,000 people, year-on-year decreases of 5 percent.
To achieve the goal, the ministry will strengthen the information network and increase epidemic supervision in high-risk areas, such as the Central Highlands , central region and northern mountainous provinces of Lai Chau, Dien Bien, Son La, Ha Giang and Lao Cai.
According to Nguyen Manh Hung, head of the Central Institute for Malaria, Parasitology and Entomology , Vietnam has carried out its national programme against malaria since 1991. Together with expanding a network of healthcare to communes, the ministry has also distributed medicines free of charge to local people, helping reduce remarkably the number of malaria-infected patients. In 2007, the country reported only 20 deaths, a fall of 86.5 percent compared to 2000.
In response to this year’s World Malaria Day (April 25), the Ministry of Health will launch many drives against malaria.-Enditem
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