THE Ministry of Health on Wednesday received a J$6.2-million boost from the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) to strengthen its malaria prevention and control activities.

Karen Turner, USAID mission director for Jamaica and the Caribbean, said the ministry is to receive another $6.2-million donation shortly, pushing the total amount of money received to more than $12 million.

“This finding is intended to finance additional equipment and will assist the ministry in spraying and fogging and dealing with mosquitoes that can help spread malaria,” she said.

“I think that the response of the ministry to the issue reflects its understanding of the seriousness of the problem in light of the impact on its own citizens and the possibility of it spreading further,” Turner added.

Health minister Horace Dalley expressed his gratitude for the contribution made to the ministry’s efforts to combat the spread of the dreaded disease.

He said that to date there were 209 confirmed cases of malaria, 25 of which were confirmed after the start of the new year. Of the 209 cases, 187 have been successfully treated. Dalley also noted that the cases were confined to the Kingston 11, 12, 13 areas, but said that there were nine cases in St Catherine and a single case in Clarendon.

He noted that the number of malaria cases have been decreasing as the ministry’s health teams work to monitor cases and eradicate mosquito breeding sites.

“The rate of success in treating persons has been extremely good and the infection rate is down to three per cent,” the minister said. “We feel very positive that we have the disease under control.”

He has, however, urged the public to be vigilant about keeping the surroundings clean in order to prevent the development of breeding sites. At the same time, Dalley pleaded with residents of Wilton Gardens (Rema) to cooperate with the health teams as they carry out the necessary fever surveillance and mosquito control work in the community. “A lot of the cases originated from those areas and we have to go to houses and interview the households. Some persons who were affected gave their names (but) gave wrong address. All the these (are challenges that) the health workers have to face up to,” he said.

“The people are not cooperating with the health teams and the fear that we have is that there might be people in there that we cannot test,” Dalley added.