SANAA, 4 February 2003 — The Kingdom and Yemen are to launch a joint anti-malaria campaign to curb the outbreak of the epidemic on both sides of the border, Yemen’s Saba news reported yesterday.
A joint medical committee decided at the conclusion of a meeting in Sanaa yesterday to “launch a coordinated campaign to contain the malaria disease in the border regions,” Saba said.
The committee ordered a field survey be carried out to determine the infected areas and to start the campaign under a joint plan. The damp climate and heavy rainfall in the foothills serve as ideal breeding grounds for the mosquitoes which spread the disease.
Saudi Arabia is to provide its impoverished neighbor with insecticide spraying vehicles to help spray mosquito-infested areas on the Yemeni side of the 1,458 kilometer border line, the agency said. Saudi epidemiologists are also to work hand-in-hand with their Yemeni counterparts.
Malaria is a top priority health problem in Yemen where 60 percent of the population of 20 million are estimated to be at risk of the epidemic, according to the World Health Organization.
Some two million Yemenis, mostly children under five and pregnant women, are estimated to be infected annually. (DPA)
