SL CELEBRATES ‘WORLD MALARIA DAY’ FOR 7TH CONSECUTIVE YEAR
Sri Lanka once reached near elimination of Malaria in 1963 with only 17 malaria patients in the country. But we were unable to sustain this success and each year around 50 cases of malaria are reported from various parts of the country from travellers of Malaria infected countries, Director General of Health Services (DGHS) Dr Anil Jasinghe said. “Learning from our history, when we achieved elimination in 2012, the Anti-malaria Campaign, supported by all
its stakeholders strengthened the activities to prevent a re-introduction of Malaria to the country,” Dr Jasinghe said.
Addressing the media at the Information Department auditorium to mark ‘The World Malaria Day’ which falls on April 25 every year, Dr Jasinghe noted that Sri Lanka too proudly celebrated the World Malaria Day for the 7th consecutive year as a Malaria-free country.
“The Anti-malaria Campaign of the Ministry of Health wishes to invite all Sri Lankans to support the national endeavour of keeping the island free of Malaria forever,” he said.
Malaria is a deadly disease and a devastating disease with not only individual implications but also national level impact. In the 1930s when the disease was highly prevalent in the country, more than 5 million people got infected and 82,000 died. Not only this, the debilitation that followed was immense and that in turn affected their livelihoods, impacting the social and economic aspects, Dr Jasinghe stressed.
“However, Sri Lanka is constantly at risk of getting malaria back due to a large number of people travelling to and from countries having malaria and due to the presence of mosquitoes responsible for the spread of the disease in most parts of the country. Each year around 50 cases of malaria are reported from various parts of the country from these travellers. If these cases of imported malaria are not detected early and treated promptly, there is an enormous risk of getting an epidemic of malaria back. Public support through awareness is the key to avoid this devastating consequence,” Dr Jasinghe emphasized.
There are key steps to be taken if a Sri Lankan is travelling to a malariaendemic country if a Sri Lankan employer is employing workers from these countries or sending employees for work in these countries.