‘Campaigns ensure Kingdom remains free of vector-borne diseases’

AMMAN — HRH Princess Muna, WHO patron for nursing and midwifery in the Eastern Mediterranean region, on Monday attended a ceremony marking World Health Day, this year held under the theme “Small bite, big threat”. 

World Health Day is celebrated on April 7 every year to mark the anniversary of the founding of WHO in 1948. 

Each year a theme is selected that highlights a priority area of public health; the topic for 2014 is vector-borne diseases.

During the ceremony, Health Minister Ali Hiasat said Jordan was in the forefront in drawing up programmes and adopting international strategies to combat communicable diseases, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

He noted that the ministry is committed to cooperating with WHO and other concerned entities to implement campaigns that ensure the Kingdom remains free of vector-borne diseases. 

A malaria case that was recently discovered in Jordan is an introduced case, and there is “no need to worry about the spread of vector-borne diseases in the country”, Mohammad Abdullat, director of the ministry’s communicable diseases department, told The Jordan Times on Monday.

He said health authorities are on the alert and maintain monitoring programmes to prevent vector-borne diseases.

Abdullat said the last case of malaria in the country that was caused by malaria-carrying mosquitoes was registered in 1970, but since then all cases have been  imported.

A Jordanian doctor infected with malaria died earlier this month, which prompted the Health Ministry to conduct a survey in the Southern Shuneh region, as the doctor visited one of the Dead Sea hotels a few days before his death.

However, results showed that there are no malaria-carrying mosquitoes in the area.

Abdullat previously said that malaria is not endemic in Jordan and all diagnosed cases are from visitors to the country, adding that around 82 cases of the disease are annually reported in the Kingdom.

The health official noted that several cases of leishmaniasis, another vector-borne disease, are discovered in Jordan and the ministry provides medication for patients diagnosed with the disease.

He added that the ministry provides anti-malarial medication and the yellow fever vaccine for travellers.

Another official at the ministry, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that in a country like Jordan which hosts thousands of refugees the possibility of the spread of vector-borne diseases is high.

“We should be alert all the time. We cannot say that these diseases have disappeared... mosquitoes and flies that cause these diseases can easily move from one place to another,” the official said.

According to the World Health Organisation’s website, more than half the world’s population is at risk from diseases such as malaria, dengue, leishmaniasis, Lyme disease, schistosomiasis and yellow fever, carried by mosquitoes, flies, ticks, water snails and other vectors. 

“Every year, more than one billion people are infected and more than one million die from vector-borne diseases.”

“A global health agenda that gives higher priority to vector control could save many lives and avert much suffering. Simple, cost-effective interventions like insecticide-treated bed nets and indoor spraying have already saved millions of lives,” WHO Director General Margaret Chan said. 

“No one in the 21st century should die from the bite of a mosquito, a sandfly, a blackfly or a tick.”

In his address at Monday’s event, Ala Alwan, WHO regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean, underlined the significant role governments can play in combating and preventing the outbreak of such diseases, Petra reported. 

During the ceremony, Princess Muna presented awards to three students who took part in a WHO competition to depict the theme of this year’s World Health Day in drawings.