PESHAWAR, April 25: The NWFP government has allocated Rs329 million to revitalise the Rollback Malaria (RBM) programme in the province, Dr Khalid Iqbal, provincial manager of the programme, said.

Speaking at a workshop held in connection with the World Malaria Day at the Directorate of Health on Friday, he informed that the government had allocated the amount for a period of five years to raise the capacity of its workers at the rural health centres, so they could promptly diagnose malaria patients and treat them.

Malaria, the RBM official said was the fifth killer disease in the country. Most of the cases were recorded in Balochistan, Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and the NWFP, he said.

Under the programme, Dr Khalid said plans were afoot to set up a system of data collection regarding malaria incidence in 24 districts of the province and to start measures accordingly. He said that anti-mosquito spray would also be conducted in certain areas to stop mosquito breeding.

He said that separate cadre health workers associated with RBM programme had been announced. "The scale of malaria workers had been upgraded to basic pay scale 9,” Dr Khalid said.

According to the Millennium Development Goals set forth by the United Nations, Pakistan is required to cut down malaria by 50 per cent by the year 2015.

Behramand Khan of the World Health Organisation said that they were supporting the government through technical assistance to reduce the diseases’ burden, including malaria. He said that the services delivery system was being strengthened to improve the diagnostic and treatment scenario by imparting training to the health workers.

Dr Fazal Qayyum of the Directorate of Health said that the government was desperately looking towards the international organisations, including the WHO for financial and technical assistance to cope with the disease.

Dr Mohammad Zaheen, deputy director Public Health, attributed the rise in malaria to the weak monitoring and evaluation system throughout the world. He said that the problem of malaria had been compounded by the unhindered cross border movement of the Afghan refugees.

Dr Sajid Shaheen, director-general Health was of the view that malaria affected 300 to 500 million people worldwide annually of whom about three million die. "Every 40 seconds, one person dies of malaria around the globe,” he added.

Dr Sajid said that the children were the worst victims of malaria, because they die within 24 hours if left untreated.

The cause of deaths from malaria was also because of the nonavailability of exact statistics about malaria due to which the governments face problems in putting preventive steps in place, he added.

Dr Sajid urged the elected representatives and health professionals to make efforts to raise the awareness level of the people regarding preventive measures. He said that the people should use impregnated bed nets during nights to avoid mosquito bite and spray kerosene oil over stagnant water pools in their localities.