Oct 30, 2012
In Nepal, where malaria is endemic, the World Health Organization estimates that 20 million people are at risk of malaria.
Eleven health officials from Nepal travelled to Melbourne under an Australian Leadership Awards Fellowship with the ambition to eliminate malaria in their communities.
During the three-week Fellowship program held in September, the seven men and four women were given training in how to prepare a malaria management plan which could be implemented in their malaria prone districts in Nepal.
Delivered by the Burnet Institute, this program was endorsed and funded by AusAID.
Shrijana Shrestha, a Fellow from Kathmandu, said she learned a lot from the Fellowship program, describing it as a wonderful experience.
Australia’s Ambassador for HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria, James Gilling, said malaria is a major public health problem around the world and it hit the world’s poor the hardest.
‘Despite progress against malaria over the past decade, there are still more than 200 million malaria cases globally,’ he said.
‘As part of AusAID’s efforts to combat malaria in the South East Asia region and help build awareness and political commitment to malaria, Australia is hosting the Malaria 2012: Saving Lives in the Asia Pacific conference this week.’
Malaria 2012 aims to accelerate progress towards the global target of a 75 per cent reduction in malaria cases and deaths in the Asia–Pacific region by 2015.
SOURCE: ReleifWeb
