The Ministry of Health will train 500 health officials to help eradicate malaria in the Jazan region with the help of a UK university.

Deputy Health Minister for Planning and Development Mohamed Al-Khosheim said the program will be carried out with the University of Liverpool's School of Public Health.

Al-Khosheim said the training program is part of the ministry's plan to harness foreign expertise to improve health services in the Kingdom.

Malaria is preventable and treatable. In the Kingdom, there are 14 medical centers in places where malaria is prevalent.

In 2011, 2,788 malaria cases were recorded in the Kingdom. Sixty-nine of the affected people were Saudis — 2.4 percent of total malaria cases. The Saudi cases include 59 in Jazan, nine in Asir and one in Al-Qunfudah.

Malaria is caused by a parasite called Plasmodium, which is transmitted via the bites of infected mosquitoes. In the human body, the parasites multiply in the liver and then infect red blood cells.

More than a million people die of malaria every year. Up to 500 million people contract the disease annually and nearly 40 percent of the world’s population is considered at risk from the disease.

Meanwhile, Al-Khosheim said the Ministry of Health hired medical consultants and specialists from the United States, Canada and Europe to facilitate the smooth functioning of its intensive care units, maternity wards and emergency departments in various health facilities throughout the Kingdom. The doctors were hired from the American University of Minnesota, Canada's McMaster University, the UK's University of Liverpool, University of Washington and the American College of Surgeons.

“During the first stage, the doctors from the American University of Minnesota will visit intensive care units in Riyadh, Al-Qassim and the Eastern Province to raise the performance level in these facilities and update the medics and paramedics on the latest techniques in the relevant field,” Al-Khosheim said. The visiting team will also assist the local staff working in obstetric and pediatric intensive care units in the ministry's hospitals.