ETHIOPIA RECORDS SHARP RISE IN MALARIA CASES

 

NEW YORK, 9 August (OCHA) -- The sharp increase in the number of reported malaria cases recorded in May and June -- 18,911 cases of malaria, and 42 deaths -- has prompted the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Ethiopia to warn that the country may be inadequately equipped to confront an epidemic in 2005.

Amid fear that the number of cases could further rise during the peak transmission season for malaria, which runs from June to October, OCHA has cautioned that the current amount of medicines and insecticide-treated nets being imported into the country will be inadequate in the event of a major epidemic. 

Already this year, 77 administrative zones have seen increased rates of transmission, with the highest number of cases being reported in Tigray, Amhara and Afar in the north, Oromiya in the south, Somali in the east and Benshangul-Gumuz in the west.  Nearly 20,000 cases of malaria were reported in June, compared to some 5,000 and 2,000 cases during the same month in 2003 and 2004, respectively.  The region of Tigray has confirmed malaria epidemics in two locations, which started in the third week of June.

To date, 2.5 million doses of anti-malarials have been imported, and some 890,000 doses have been distributed in various regions.  The World Health Organization (WHO), in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, has conducted a rapid assessment of affected areas, which remains ongoing in some areas, and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is preparing to work with the WHO to offer the Government logistical support in distributing the treatments that are in the country.  Other assistance activities will seek to assist in the procurement of quinine and to improve epidemic surveillance.

Most of Ethiopia’s population of 70 million lives in rural areas, where health services are poor or non-existent.  Malaria is the third biggest killer in Ethiopia, claiming at least 100,000 people a year. 

For further information, please call:  Stephanie Bunker, OCHA New York, tel.:  917 367 5126, mobile:  917 892 1679; or Vanessa Huguenin, OCHA Geneva, tel.:  +41 22 917 18 91.

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For information media • not an official record