Doctors are concerned that rubber plantations have become breeding sites for malaria spreading mosquitoes and increase the risk of contracting the disease.
There has been a 7 percent increase in the number of cases of malaria compared to the same period last year and the disease poses the third greatest health risk to residents in the province, Deputy Director of the Attapeu provincial Health Department Dr Chanthavong Xayasena told Vientiane Times yesterday.
Health officials believe that rubber tree plantations in Phouvong and Xaysettha district have contributed to the increased incidence of malaria and that workers who come from other provinces for the rubber harvest are also at risk.
Rubber plantation owners need to regularly cut back grass to make sure that overgrown areas do not become egg-laying sites for mosquitoes, Dr Phouvong advised.
Chairman of the Promotion for Education and Development Association Mr Santi Douangpraseuth noted that the incidence rate has also increased in Luang Namtha province where he runs the malaria control project.
So far this year, 69 people in the province have become infected. “I think that rubber plantations may be breeding areas for malaria transmitting mosquitoes,” he said at the malaria control meeting in Savannakhet last week.
The increase in infection rates is a warning sign that cannot be ignored and all relevant organisations need to discuss the issue and develop strategies to combat malaria in the years to come, Mr Santi said. According to a recent survey by the Malariology, Parasitology and Entomology Centre, there are more than 40 kinds of mosquito in Laos, three of which – Anopheles dirus, Anopheles minimus and Anopheles maculatus - are the main carriers of malaria.
These mosquitoes usually bite humans and transfer parasites between the hours of 6pm and 6am.
Since the late 1950s, malaria control in Laos has received support from many donors and control measures have been adopted in various provinces.
However, it was not until 2003 that the malaria prevention programme was able to cover all the provinces in Laos, thanks primarily to significant support from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
The nationwide imple-mentation of the programme has resulted in an almost 50 percent reduction in malaria infection - 6.6 infections per 1,000 people in 2003 to 3.7 per 1,000 in 2009 - and a drop in malaria deaths by more than 80 percent - 187 per 1,000 intections in 2003 to 5 per 1,000 in 2009.
Under the initiative, people suffering from malaria receive free treatment, including medicine, diagnostic services and other medical care.
However, health officials said that prevention, rather than treatment, is the most effective way of coping with the disease and recommend sleeping under an insecticide treated mosquito net to avoid being bitten.
Fresh Fighting in Tripoli as Gadhafi Son Refutes Rebel ControlPosted Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011 at 6:55 am Fresh fighting has broken out in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, hours after the son and one-time heir apparent of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, Seif al-Islam, defiantly appeared in the city saying his father's government was still in control.
Heavy fighting took place Tuesday near Mr. Gadhafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound as gunfire and explosions shook several parts of the city, which the rebels claim to have mostly under their control.
Seif al-Islam presented himself to foreign journalists confined to the Gadhafi-controlled Rixos Hotel, despite earlier claims by opposition leaders that he was in rebel hands. He then led a convoy through loyalist areas, where television footage showed him pumping his fists in the air as supporters cheered him.
The International Criminal Court on Tuesday disputed reports that it had confirmed Seif al-Islam's detention, saying the court never received official word from the opposition Transitional National Council.
Senior rebel sources also said another of Mr. Gadhafi's sons – Mohammed – escaped house arrest Monday. A third son is apparently still in detention, and Mr. Gadhafi's whereabouts are not known.
The head of the opposition council, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, said Mr. Gadhafi will receive a fair trial if captured and that the “real moment of victory” will be when he is taken into custody.
Jalil acknowledged that the rebels have yet to establish full control in Tripoli, where forces loyal to Mr. Gadhafi have battled rebels in scattered pockets. Opposition fighters say pro-government forces still hold 10-15 percent of the capital, including the Bab al-Aziziya compound.
Meanwhile, the International Organization for Migration said Tuesday the fighting in Tripoli has forced it to delay docking a boat to begin evacuating stranded migrants. The group says the boat, which can carry 300 people, will remain off shore until the security situation improves.
Libyan state television remained off the air late Monday amid reports that rebels seized what had become a key instrument of government propaganda.
In addition to parts of Tripoli, pro-government forces also control at least two major cities affiliated with his tribe – Sabha, to the south, and Sirte, some 450 kilometers east of capital along the coast. NATO says government forces fired three Scud missiles toward the city of Misrata. No injuries were reported.
The rebels broke through Tripoli's outer defenses Sunday and reached the city's central Green Square, where thousands celebrated the opposition's arrival. Jubilant Libyans in the square, which the rebels have renamed Martyrs Square, tore down posters of Mr. Gadhafi and stomped on them. Until recently, the government had used the area for mass demonstrations in support of Mr. Gadhafi.
The rebel troops moved into central Tripoli with little resistance after capturing a key military base run by the government's elite Khamis Brigade and commanded by another of Mr. Gadhafi's sons.
On Sunday, Libyan state television broadcast a series of defiant audio messages from Mr. Gadhafi. The Libyan leader said he would stay in the capital “until the end” to defend the city and called on supporters to help liberate it.
Mr. Gadhafi has seen the areas under his control shrink significantly in recent weeks as rebels advanced on Tripoli after six months of fighting to end his four-decade long rule. NATO warplanes have been supporting the rebels by bombing pro-Gadhafi forces under a U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing military action to protect Libyan civilians from government attacks.
