NOV. 11 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — >> I’ve just read that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared Kyrgyzstan to be free of malaria. Is this important? What does this mean?
>>Put simply, it means that Kyrgyzstan has done a good job at stamping out malaria. To be declared free of malaria, a country has to prove that there have been no cases for three consecutive years. It’s good PR for Kyrgyzstan and should make it a more attractive destination for tourists to visit. It’s an image thing. Malaria was never a major problem in Kyrgyzstan but publicity from WHO about combating it will go down well.
>> Got it. You say that it wasn’t a major problem but how serious was malaria in Kyrgyzstan, then?
>> It had been more or less stamped out under the Soviet Union, mainly due to industrialisation and living standards rising, but it re-appeared in the 1990s. This was a tough period, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, with the economy performing badly. There were very few jobs in Kyrgyzstan and healthcare was underfunded. Migrant workers brought malaria back to Kyrgyzstan and in 2002, it suffered what the WHO described as a “malaria epidemic” with 2,700 reported cases. Backed by the WHO, the Kyrgyz government ran a malaria eradication strategy which targeted improving healthcare and strengthening awareness of the disease. By 2011, the number of malaria cases reported to have been picked up in Kyrgyzstan was three, dropping to zero in 2012. The campaign has been a success.
>> Does this all mean that Kyrgyzstan has become something of a WHO poster-boy in Central Asia?
>>Not exactly. It still has plenty of issues to deal with such as high rates of alcohol consumption and smoking, as well as HIV and tuberculosis problems. These issues are generally shared with other countries in the former Soviet Union. Public health in the region is always going to be a continual battle.
>> And what about the other countries in the region?
>> Kazakhstan has also been declared malaria-free and the number of cases in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan has fallen dramatically. Both are on course to achieving the WHO’s malaria-free certificate. For Tajikistan, in particular, this would be a major achievement. At its peak in 1997, Tajikistan reported nearly 30,000 new cases of malaria. Last year it reported zero cases and the WHO has said that it is on course to achieve malaria-free status. This is a good news story from Central Asia. Eradicating malaria will save lives and take the strain off the health sector. Of course, it may reappear but for now, malaria is being defeated in the region. The WHO has no data for Turkmenistan.
>> That’s impressive. So, is it all good news for Central Asia’s healthcare system?
>> No. While malaria may be being beaten, other diseases are still a problem. Kazakhstan reports seasonal outbreaks of the bubonic plague. These are localised and transmitted by fleas living off infected rodents. One or two people die each year from the disease but it has never threatened to become widespread. In Tajikistan, polio, which was thought to have been eradicated, was reported in the south of the country in 2011. In total, nearly 500 people were reported to be infected and the WHO declared an epidemic. At least 29 people died before the outbreak was brought under control six months later. In Kyrgyzstan, also, there have been recent public health scares. This included an outbreak of measles in 2015. Out of 22,000 recorded in the wider Europe region that year, a third were in Kyrgyzstan
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 304, published on Nov. 11 2016)