– to bolster efforts to tackle malaria in Reg. 7

REGIONAL Chairman of Region Seven, Gordon Bradford, has said that a health centre will be constructed in Paruni by the end of 2019, as part of efforts to tackle malaria in the region and provide better access to health services.

“Puruni landing [is] the area that is said to be the hotspot where malaria in the Cuyuni-Mazaruni is concerned,” the chairman noted.

He also highlighted that Paruni is the second largest populated area in Region Seven, only to Bartica, and that there are perhaps thousands of persons who traverse the area because the landing is a transit point for other interior locations

Malaria is a vector-borne disease, which means it is spread by mosquitoes. The disease is caused by micro-organisms that attack the body’s systems, often resulting in death. This is after causing fever, vomiting, tiredness, aches and great discomfort and disability. And Region Seven has been identified as one of the endemic regions for malaria, where its large mining population is susceptible to the disease.

“In our regional budget 2019, we have been given the funds to construct that health centre at Puruni landing,” the chairman shared. And he posited that this health facility should be ready before the end of the year.

“It’s not an easy thing to come down with malaria in an interior area and then having to travel all the way to Bartica or to Georgetown to receive the services that you should receive,” he lamented. Additionally, he noted that even if malaria cannot be eradicated completely, efforts can be fostered to minimise it as much as possible.

“That is in keeping with our regional vision of taking health services, regardless of if it’s malaria or whatever, to the people and not establishing the service somewhere and having the people to travel all the way to some centre,” he said. “We’re fulfilling our mandate in terms of taking healthcare delivery to every area in Cuyuni-Mazaruni.”

Regional Malaria Coordinator, Dr. Dexter Browne, providing exact figures, shared that 13,390 smears were done in the region in 2018, which found 3, 405 positive cases of malaria. This was an increase to the 2,774 cases recorded for 2017.