World Malaria Day
The World Malaria Day will be observed in Bangladesh as elsewhere across the globe today with the theme 'Sustain Gains, Save Lives: Invest in Malaria'.
World Malaria Day - which was instituted by the World Health Assembly at its 60th session in May 2007 - is a day for recognising the global efforts to control malaria.
According to World Health Organisation (WHO), in 2010, about 3.3 billion people - almost half of the world's population - were at risk of malaria. Every year, about 216 million people become affected with malaria and 6,55, 000 die of the disease. People living in the poorest countries are the most vulnerable.
In Bangladesh, different organisations have chalked out various programmes to mark the day. The programmes include seminar, rally and health camps.
As part of the programmes, Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) in association with Brac and WHO arranged a press conference at New DOHS in the capital on Tuesday.
Addressing the press conference, health experts called for taking effective measures to reduce deaths caused by malaria.
Though malaria elimination project had been taken up, the disease was yet to be eliminated in the country, they said.
About 6,15,059 people were affected this year with the disease in the country, they added.
The experts said 36 people died of the disease in 2011 while the toll was 228 in 2007.
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