MSF helps respond to an upsurge of malaria cases

Shafique Uddin, 26 October 2014, MSF village health workers are providing free malaria screening to the population as well as treatment to the patients tested positive in Babu para in Alikadam upazila, Bandarban.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has helped respond to an upsurge in malaria cases in the Bandarban district of the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh, treating nearly 1,700 patients in the last three months, the international medical organisation informed recently.

In mid-August, MSF launched an intervention in the district to support the Ministry of Health (MoH) of Bangladesh and other health providers already present in the area.

The MoH had internally declared an emergency in Bandarban earlier in the month after an unexpected rise in malaria cases — the trend seen over the last five years had been one of decrease.

MSF supported the joint intervention in Alikadam and Thanchi, the most affected upazilas, and 6,470 people have so far received free malaria testing and the 1,693 who tested positive have benefited from free treatment (positivity ratio of 26%).

Patients were screened and treated in community health clinics and by village health workers in remote villages where there are no medical facilities. MSF nurses and doctors trained the village health workers on the malaria screening and treatment processes before they started the activities.

Severe malaria cases are referred to hospitals

“My three-year-old daughter could not eat. She was too sick. Village health workers tested her blood and then provided her with malaria drugs. These services gave us a feeling of relief and safety”, explained the mother of a patient treated by MSF in the village of Khiwaing, Alikadam upazila. “We feel happy now that we are getting good care.”

Malaria can cause high fever, fatigue, headaches and vomiting; the most acute cases can lead to coma or even death if left untreated or are not treated early enough.

In the last five years the Bangladesh authorities have made progress in fulfilling their objective to eliminate the mosquito-borne infectious disease across the country by 2020, managing to notably reduce the number of cases nationwide.

“The cooperation between the Ministry of Health and other healthcare organisations has resulted in access to malaria diagnosis and treatment being provided quickly to the population of Bandarban”, says Parthesarathy Rajendran, Head of Mission of MSF in Bangladesh.

“MSF is always ready to cooperate with the local authorities to provide healthcare wherever the needs are.”

MSF has been working in Bangladesh since 1985 and has responded to several emergencies in the country. For its current malaria intervention in Bandarban district, MSF has been working with other national and international organisations such as UNDP, BRAC or GRAUS, as well as with the Ministry of Health.