KARACHI, Jan 3: The federal ministry of health, in collaboration with the World Health Organization, is in a process of establishing a Malaria Early Warning System (MEWS).

The project, as reported in the WHO-Pakistan’s recent publication, will be piloted in one district of each province and then will be expanded to 24 other high-risk districts.

The MEWS was said to be a systematic framework for prediction of malaria epidemics in epidemic-prone areas, based on the analysis of available data on malaria transmission potential and vulnerability risk assessment through monitoring of morbidity and mortality, weather and rainfall forecasting.

The project will help in making early detection and correct forecast about the disease.

Malaria has been regarded as a major cause of morbidity in Pakistan. Seasonal transmission variations, draught, irrigation system, weather changes, population movements from have made many areas epidemic-prone.

Early detection, containment and prevention of malaria epidemics are one of the four technical elements of global malaria control strategy (WHO-1993), on which the Rollback Malaria initiative was built in 1998.

According to WHO sources, various ministries are being involved and sensitized to seek support for the initiative.—APP