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Malaria prevalence in CHT declines significantly

Data show over 57,500 cases were detected in 2008, but the figure dropped to 19,425 in 2013

UNB, Dhaka
The prevalence of malaria has declined to a significant extent in recent years in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) due to the initiatives taken by the government as well as the development organisations to check the disease.
"I earlier suffered from malaria for three consecutive years...after taking treatment from a local satellite clinic, I got rid of the disease," said Chang Thui Mro, a member of Mro ethnic community, at Muruga Bazar in Rowangchhari upazila of Bandarban.
Khushi Tripura, member of another ethnic community, who trekked 10 kilometre to come to the Muruga Bazar Satellite
Clinic, said malaria was common among the people of Tripura Para located on the side of Bandarban-Muruga Bazar road.
"Now we are safe from the disease as we use mosquito nets supplied by the government, and follow the advice of the community health workers," she said.
Since 2006, the hill district councils of Khagrachhari, Rangamati and Bandarban, with support from the Chittagong Hill Tracts Development Facility-the United Nations Development Programme (CHTDF-UNDP), have set up community satellite clinics to provide health care among people in the hilly districts.
Statistic of the CHTDF-UNDP health
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programme shows that till April this year, only 157 malaria patients took treatment from community clinics in Bandarban district - 54 in Rowangchhari upazila, five in Ruma, 40 inThanchi, 16 in Lama, and 42 in Alikadam upazila.
A total of4,555 malaria patients received treatment from the satellite clinics in Bardarban in 2007, but the figure declined to 1,964 in 2013.
About 17,782 malaria cases were detected in Bandarban district in 2008, but the figure came down to 9,320 in 2013. Eleven people reportedly died from malaria in the district in 2008 whereas only three died from the disease in 2013.
Official data show that over 57,500 malaria cases were detected in the CHT region in 2008, but the figure dropped to 19,425 in 2013 (up to November). A total of 88 people died from malaria in the CHT in 2008 while only 12 people died in 2013.
Dr Ching Swe Phru, Bandarban district medical officer of CHTDF-UNDP, said there
were 54 malaria patients in Muruga Bazar last year.
The epidemic of malaria depends on the intensity of rainfall - if rainfall increases, people suffer more from the disease, he said, adding that the incidence of the disease had declined significantly in the region.
"Community health workers are holding focus group discussions with communities to make them aware of malaria, providing treatment, and suggesting each to be fully clothed during jhum cultivation and to use pesticide-mixed mosquito nets supplied by the government,” hesaid.
Biplob Chakma, chief of Community Empowerment, CHTDF in Rangamati, said: "About 13 percent of all patients that we treated under the health programme were detected to have malaria infection in 2006, but it came down to only about 2 percent in 2013."
In the past, the prevalence of malaria in the CHT region was one of the major health threats to the CHT population, especially those in the remote areas.