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The Minister of Health, Abdelhak Saihi announced, Thursday from Timiaouine, the drop in the number of cases of malaria recently recorded in the region, reassuring about the availability of treatment for this disease.
In a statement to the press on the sidelines of an inspection visit to a polyclinic in Timiaouine, the minister specified that “the number of malaria cases has decreased”, indicating that “the number of cases recorded on Thursday increased to 24 compared to more than 127 last weekend.”
The treatment is available for the management of cases recorded in the region which, he said, benefited on Thursday from 920 boxes while waiting for the 1,300 doses to be provided on Friday.
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These steps must be accompanied by a vaccination campaign against diphtheria for the benefit of all residents of the municipality which has not recorded any cases so far, underlined the minister, according to the APS.
Mr. Saihi announced the project to build a hospital with a capacity of 60 beds, indicating that the health sector in the region will be equipped with two ambulances. Local authorities are taking care of all recorded cases, he reassured, thanking health personnel for the efforts made.
Accompanied by a delegation from the health sector and local authorities, Mr. Saihi inquired about the recorded cases and the conditions of their treatment, giving instructions for the treatment of the sick and the vaccination of all fringes.
Speaking on the sidelines of his inspection visit to the Chahid “Tati Argali” hospital in Bordj Badji Mokhtar, Mr. Saihi highlighted the imperative vaccination of all residents of regions having recorded cases of malaria or of diphtheria and neighboring regions, “being a necessary means of protecting them against the disease”.
The minister affirmed that “no case of diphtheria has been recorded in the commune of Timiaouine, falling within the wilaya of Bordj Badji Mokhtar”, while vaccination remains “the most effective means of prevention”, a- he clarified.
Last Monday, the president of the National Health Security Agency (ANSS), Professuer Kamel Sanhadji, the appearance of the infectious diseases of diphtheria and malaria in the far south of the country was reported on August 28 at the level border areas, such as Tinzaouatine (wilaya of In Guezzam) and Timiaouine (wilaya of Bordj Badji Mokhtar). The affected wilayas are Tamanrasset, In Guezzam and Bordj Badji Mokhtar.
During his appearance on Channel 3 radio, Professor Sanhadji reported at least 40 deaths due to these infectious diseases out of a total of 536 cases recorded in the wilaya of In Guezzam, including the majority of deaths and cases were recorded in Tinzaouatine, a locality located on the border with Mali.
He specified that 28 cases of deaths recorded in the Great South and caused by the diphtheria epidemic (115 cases in total), 27 cases were recorded in Tinzaouatine and a single case in In Guezzam. Concerning malaria, Professor Sanhadji revealed that 421 cases have been recorded since the end of last August in the wilaya of In Guezzam, the majority of cases of which are reported in Tinzaouatine. There too, there were 12 deaths caused by malaria, including 5 in In Guezzam and 7 others in Tinzaouatine.
Without giving figures concerning the two diseases in Timiaouine, Professor Sanhadji indicated that in this border locality falling within the wilaya of Bordj Badji Mokhtar, the situation is similar to that which prevails in Tinzaouatine. On the other hand, he said, in the wilaya of Tamanrasset, only one to two cases of diphtheria are reported per day, estimating that “hospital infrastructure and highly qualified human resources take care of patients in real time”.
The president of the ANSS stressed that diphtheria “is concomitant with malaria which spread during this favorable period marked by the latest rains having caused stagnant water and the emergence of mosquitoes in the desert, knowing that diphtheria is a contagious disease, whereas malaria is not a contagious pathology, but transmitted by mosquitoes.
According to him, “these cases of diphtheria and malaria are mainly imported, resulting from cross-border migrations of populations from neighboring countries, accentuated by climate change. These have contributed to the spread of diseases in border regions.” He noted that “the health system of certain neighboring countries is not necessarily developed like ours where the vaccination coverage rate is close to or exceeds 80% of the populations”.
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