Malaria is making a comeback in Bangladesh and other Asian nations, the World Health Organization and the Bangladesh government announced Wednesday.
Findings were presented at a three-day malaria and tuberculosis meeting, attended by parliamentarians from Bhutan, Burma, India, Indonesia, the Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand, China’s government news agency, Xinhua, said.
In Bangladesh, where malaria was once thought to have been defeated, more the 1,500 people died of the mosquito-borne parasite from 1997 to 1999, and at least 10 percent of the population is at risk of exposure, the agency reported. With the help of the WHO’s Roll Back Malaria program, Bangladesh has worked toward ending that comeback.
Stricter guidelines and controls need to be put in place in Bangladesh, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was quoted as saying Monday at the beginning of the conference.
“Otherwise, our achievements in the health sector would severely be threatened. We hope that we would be able to control these diseases within a short time,” Xinhua reported her as saying.
She said disease prevention cannot be the sole responsibility of just one ministry or agency.
, but requires a “multi-sectoral” approach, the agency reported.
Hasina expressed her hope that the parliamentarians could “effectively contribute” to heath care development, thereby displaying a “commitment to their voters,” Xinhua said.
