Jayapura Regency Government’s Efforts to Control Malaria: Challenges and Progress

Jayapura, Jubi – The Jayapura Regency Government or District Government continues to struggle to overcome the spread of malaria. So far, the response has only succeeded in reducing up to two thousand cases a year.

Jayapura Regency Health Service Disease Prevention and Control Department Head (Dinkes) Pungut Sunarto said there will be 45 thousand cases of malaria in the region in 2023. This figure is starting to decline compared to the previous year, which was 47 thousand cases.

“Case [malaria] less will be found in 2023 than in 2022. However, the reduction is still not significant [hanya dua ribu kasus setahun]. Therefore, we will continue to try to control it [penularan malaria]”, said Pungut, Saturday (27/4/2024).

Pungut said they had coordinated with Jayapura Regency Village Community Energy Service to deal with malaria. This coordination is related to socialization and community involvement in eliminating mosquito nests in residential areas.

“Controlling malaria requires the active role of the whole community. They can work together to clean the environment to control vectors [perkembangbiakan nyamuk anopheles, penular malaria],” said Pungut.

Controlling the spread of malaria The Biak Numfor District Government also continues to strengthen this. They are collaborating with the international organization Global Fund to provide insect nets to prevent the spread of malaria.

“The mosquito nets are free. “The distribution is prioritized for areas or towns that still have high malaria morbidity rates,” said Head of Disease Prevention and Control at the Biak Numfor Health Office, Ruslan Epid.

Ruslan said that they are also targeting three areas to become areas that are free or eliminated from the spread of malaria. The districts are Biak City, Samofa and Yendidori. They will follow the North Biak District which has been declared free from the spread of malaria.

“North Biak has been eradicated from Malaria since 2023. This year, the Department of Health will send more areas for eradication [yang dinyatakan bebas dari] malaria,” said Ruslan.

According to him, one of the conditions for an area to be declared free from malaria is that there is no other transmission for three consecutive years. In addition, less than five percent of cases are found in each study, and the number of people suffering from malaria is less than 1 per 1,000 of the population.

Papua is still endemic

The government aims Indonesia will be free from the spread of malaria by 2030. Based on records from the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes), the number of malaria transmission cases has decreased by approximately 25 thousand in the past year. However, Indonesia still ranks second, after India, as the country with the highest malaria cases in Asia.

“The rate of malaria in Indonesia is 418,546 cases in 2023, a decrease compared to 2022, which is 443,530 cases. Malaria cases in Indonesia are among the highest in Asia, second only to India,” said Director of Infectious Disease Prevention and Control at the Ministry of Health, Imran Pambudi, Thursday, 25 April 2024.

The World Malaria Report 2023 reports that India and Indonesia still contribute about 94 percent of malaria deaths in Asia. Based on their data, Indonesia’s malaria rate has increased by about 217 thousand cases in the last ten years, since 2015.

According to Imran, the increase in cases is due to improvements in the registration and reporting system of malaria surveillance in hospitals and health centers. In addition, there has been a significant increase in the detection of malaria cases with antimalarial inhibitors.

He ensured that the performance of the malaria eradication program remained in line with the National Medium Term Development Plan (RPJMN) 2020-2024. In 2023, for example, of the target of 385 districts/cities, 389 will be declared malaria-free. Meanwhile, this year 393 districts/cities were registered in March, out of 405 targets.

Based on data from the Ministry of Health, about 369 thousand of the 418,546 malaria cases in Indonesia in 2023 were found in Papua, Central Papua, South Papua and Mountain Papua. Therefore, malaria control is prioritized for these four areas.

“The area [Tanah] Papua and Nusa Tenggara are the areas with the highest malaria cases in Indonesia. Sumba Province, and North Penajam Paser Regency, East Kalimantan [kawasan Ibu Kota Nusantara] “It is also a malaria transmission area in Indonesia,” Imran said.

According to him, it will be more challenging to control malaria in the future because the areas where malaria is endemic and has not yet been eradicated are in the eastern region of Indonesia. Geographical factors as well as the location of infrastructure and support facilities are challenges to controlling malaria.