SEA/PR/1472
Yangon, 23 June, 2008: The World Health Organization has opened three field offices in Labutta, Bogale and Myaungmya. These field offices will coordinate with the township health officials, hospitals and health agencies to provide a more location-specific response. According to UN estimates, 260000 people were affected in Bogale, and 190 000 in Labutta.
'A joint WHO and Myanmar Ministry of Health mobile health team has returned after a week-long mission to Ngaputaw, Labutta and Bogale. This team gathered information on 126 of 162 tuberculosis patients missing since the cyclone, through intense community participation in villages and camps' said Dr. Poonam Khetrapal Singh, WHO deputy regional director for South-East Asia region. 'This is an important intervention to prevent treatment interruption and emergence of multi-drug resistance' she added. Myanmar is one of the 22 TB high burden countries with 133 000 registered TB patients in 2007, an estimated 10% of those co-infected with TB/HIV.
WHO in collaboration with Myanmar Ministry of Health and Health cluster partners is launching a Joint plan for Dengue control and prevention. This plan will target 26 townships in the cyclone affected areas of Myanmar and benefit more than 900 000 house holds.
'Since Dengue is endemic in Myanmar, we need to have a more aggressive approach to dengue control and prevention in the aftermath of the cyclone. The Dengue action plan will serve as a framework for all health partners. Our objective is to prevent a dengue outbreak through disease surveillance, case management and mosquito control using larvicides' said Dr. Adik Wibowo, WHO representative to Myanmar on her return from a recent visit to the delta.
WHO is working with the Myanmar Ministry of Health to continue training of health workers and doctors in dengue control and case management. This plan includes larviciding at a massive scale to control the mosquitoes. The larviciding will be done over 2-3 weeks and will be repeated after 8 weeks. This is the first time larviciding at such a huge scale has been undertaken in Myanmar. The Ministry of Health will conduct training on fogging, spraying and larvae control in Pathein on 19 - 20 June. Local communities are being made aware of simple precautions to prevent dengue such as covering water storage containers and properly disposing solid waste.
WHO's weekly bulletin on disease surveillance is now providing a clearer picture of diseases in the cyclone affected areas. Almost all health partners are providing information from the field to the bulletin through the Early Warning, Alert and Response System (EWARS). The latest bulletin reports 1191 cases of acute respiratory infection, 863 cases of acute diarrhea and 708 cases of trauma/injuries, among others, for the period of 8-14 June. Accordingly WHO has distributed medicines and guidelines on treatment of watery diarrhea to doctors and hospital staff working in the affected areas.
For further information, go to: http://www.searo.who.int
New Delhi: Ms Vismita Gupta-Smith, Public Information and Advocacy officer, WHO South-East Asia Region Tel: +91-11-23309401, e-mail: guptasmithv@searo.who.int;
Bangkok: Mr Chadin Tephaval, Communications Officer WHO Thailand, Tel: +62-2-5807535 email: chadin@searo.who.int ;
Geneva: Mr Paul Garwood, Communications Officer WHO Health Action in Crises (Geneva), cell phone +41-794755546 garwoodp@who.int