ALMATY, 11 April 2007 (IRIN) - ALMATY, 11 April 2007 (IRIN) - Health officials are keen to stem rising rates of malaria in Kyrgyzstan and prevent a serious outbreak, the likes of which the country experienced in 2002. In March, the government launched a campaign ahead of the May-October malaria season to improve awareness of symptoms of the disease.

"The situation with regard to malaria has more or less stabilised, although in 2006 it was a bit tense," Nurbolot Usenbayev, manager of the Control of Malaria in Kyrgyzstan programme, told IRIN from the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, on Monday.

Recently released figures for 2006 show that registered malaria cases increased by nearly a third to 320, over the 226 cases in 2005, according to Usenbaev. In 2004, 93 cases were reported and 468 cases were reported in 2003.

But the 2002 outbreak of malaria saw 2,744 registered cases.

In response to a rise in cases, the Central Asian state has adopted a national anti-malaria strategy for up to 2010. Usenbayev is upbeat but cautious about the country's chances of beating the disease.

"One good aspect is that we have received funding to implement this plan from the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria," he told IRIN from Bishkek on Monday. "I think we will be able to withstand malaria's pressure this year and we will gradually get the situation under control."

Global Fund money makes up about 80 percent of the US $3.4 million anti-malaria programme in Kyrgyzstan, with the remainder financed by the government and international organisations.

Part of this programme is the government's malaria symptoms awareness campaign, launched last month. It uses posters, TV and radio slots, sessions in schools and puppet theatres to spread the message. In previous years, malaria sufferers have mistaken symptoms for the common cold and failed to seek treatment, which is free of charge for malaria sufferers.

As well as medicines, the programme has purchased insecticides, medical equipment and mosquito nets to step up the fight against the disease. It also trains health professionals, and has set up two mobile groups to respond to outbreaks, one in the north and one in the south of the country.

But the fight against malaria still faces challenges. Many problems are common to a declining healthcare system, such as a brain drain of health workers, who earn low salaries in Kyrgyzstan, and limited medical facilities.

Malaria was an endemic disease in Kyrgyzstan in the first half of the 20th century, with up to 200,000 people believed to have malaria in the 1930s, according to specialists. The disease was eradicated in Kyrgyzstan – then part of the Soviet Union - in the 1950s.

In 1998, Kyrgyzstan saw a resurgence of malaria, linked to population movements. The country is vulnerable to the disease due to internal and external migration for seasonal work and a prevalence of breeding grounds for malaria such as rice fields, swamps and reservoirs.

The World Health Organisation says malaria kills more than a million people worldwide annually.

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