Political commitment is needed to eradicate malaria from Bangladesh, former director general of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Prof MA Saiz said on Thursday.
“Specific political commitment is needed in order to execute the goal [eradication of malaria] within the timeframe of 2030,” he said.
The former DGHS director general made the comment during a media orientation at the DGHS in Dhaka on Thursday, ahead of World Malaria Day on April 25. The slogan for the day this year is “Zero malaria starts with me.”
The former head of the DGHS also said a larger budget is necessary for the treatment of malaria patients, and urged the implementation of public awareness and malaria detection campaigns across the country.
Bangladesh has set a goal to make the country malaria-free by 2030. The three most malaria-vulnerable districts of the country are Khagrachhari, Rangamati and Bandarban.
Malaria is a disease caused by the parasite Plasmodium, which is spread primarily through the Anopheles species of mosiquito. Of 400 species of Anopheles across the world, 30-32 exist in Bangladesh.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), South-East Asia is the second most vulnerable region of the world to deaths by malaria. Of the total 400,000 people who died from malaria in 2017, 19,700 were in South-East Asia while 400,000 (90%) were in Africa.
As per a DGHS report, Bangladesh has reduced deaths caused by malaria by 95% in the last decade. A total 7 out of 10,523 malaria patients detected in 2018 died, while 228 out of 59,857 died in 2007.
