Myanmar targets to get rid of malaria by 2030

Myanmar has set a target of getting malaria out of the country by 2030 through a shift of program from "control" to "elimination", according to the Ministry of Health Sunday.

As the number of malaria case has gradually declined since 2011, Myanmar is likely to attain the millennium development goal of reducing the malaria-related death by half in 2015, the Yangon Region Public Health Department was quoted as saying.

Although the number of malaria case in most of the regions and states sees a downward trend, it is still high in western and northern parts, especially in Rakhine state and Sagaing region where malaria remains endemic, the sources said, warning that most malaria transmission occurs in forested foothill zones below an altitude of 1 kilometer with high risk groups being residents, like plantation workers and migrants living near or in forests.

According to official statistics, 9 in 1,000 people in Myanmar were infected with malaria in 2007 but the number declined to 5.13 in 2013.

The disease killed 0.48 in 100,000 people in 2013, down from 2. 18 in 2007. Endi