"The Malaria Center will be established soon this year to eradicate the disease which in 2011 affected 129,550 people," Papua provincial health office chief Josef Rinta said here on Thursday.
He said the Malaria Center would coordinate the activities of all stakeholders, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs), women organizations, church organizations and the general public in fighting the disease.
"The role of all elements of the Papua public is needed in our efforts to eliminate or reduce malaria cases in the province until 2030," Josef said.
He said the prevalence of malaria in Papua was 64 cases per 1,000 people and with the establishment of a Malaria Center it was hoped the ratio could be lowered to less than five perd 1,000 people.
"To achieve the goal, hard work and cross-sectoral cooperation are needed because what we hope is a change of behavior at all layers of society in Papua to understand how serious the malaria problem is in the province," he said.
Josef said the local health office had also conducted coaching and training for health workers about ways to eliminate malaria in Papua.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2012
