Thailand, Africa join forces to battle Malaria

BANGKOK, January 22 (TNA) - Thailand is organizing the third training programme on Malaria Prevention and Control for some 20 Thai and African medical personnel. Pornthep Sirivanarangsan, Director-General of the Thai Ministry of Public Health's Department of Disease Control, told TNA that Thailand has over 50 years of experience in Malaria control, prevention and treatment and has set up the only Malaria training centre in Southeast Asia for 40 years. Pornthep acknowledged Thailand has, however, often reported several Malaria cases in recent years due to cross-border movements of people in the region. The training programme, starting on January 21 and ending on February 15, comprises of theoretical and practical section, as well as workshops for the participants to learn on how to address Malaria-related problems and exchange useful knowledge and skills on Malaria prevention and control in their regions, where the mosquito-borne disease remains a major health problem. In Thailand alone, a public health study found that outbreaks of deadly Malaria was often detected at border areas, between Thailand and Myanmar and Thailand and Cambodia, where 15,287 Malaria patients were totally reported in 2012, with 11 deaths, two of them were foreigners. According to the senior official, Malaria is controllable in Thailand, though some 10 per cent of patients have been found to seriously suffer anti-malarial drug-resistance and need a new formula of medication. The senior Thai official said that the ongoing training programme will also enable the participants to, thus, learn to develop any anti-malarial drug-resistant medication and correctly provide the right mosquito-repellent formula for vulnerable communities in their countries. Sponsored by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and International Development Cooperation Agency of Thailand (TICA), each contributing one million baht to fund the programme, the training programme is hoped to strengthen Malaria prevention and control skills among medical personnel in the participating countries, namely Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Mozambique, Senegal, Uganda and Zambia, as 90 per cent of some one million Malaria deaths have been recorded annually in Africa. (TNA)