Speakers at a Seminar to celebrate World Malaria Day said that increased malaria prevention and control measures were essential to reduce the disease burden in the country. Malaria was a life-threatening disease caused by parasites that were transmitted to people through bites of infected mosquitoes.
They said parasites spread to people through the bites of infected anopheles mosquitoes, called malaria vectors, which bite mainly between dusk and dawn.
They added non-immune travellers from malaria-free areas were very vulnerable to the disease when they get infected.
Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) Mir Hassan Domki said that parents and caretakers of children needed to realise that it was their moral, ethical and religious obligation to ensure their children were protected against diseases and disability through completion of the immunisation course.
He reiterated the fullest commitment of government to the cause of mother and child health. He added the government was making every endeavour to strengthen the programmes like Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) and Lady Health Worker’s Programme that are catering to this vital area.
He urged media persons to play their vital role in motivating families and communities to avail of the free vaccination service against the diseases available all over the country.
Other speakers said that malaria was an acute febrile illness, adding, in a non-immune individual, symptoms appear seven days or more usually 10 to 15 days after the infective mosquito bite.
They said the first symptoms like fever, headache, chills and vomiting may be mild and difficult to recognise as malaria. If not treated within 24 hours, malaria can progress to severe illness often leading to death.