Goa renews fight against malaria and chikungunya

Come the monsoons and Goa gears up to renew its fight against malaria and other monsoon related ailments such as Chikungunya, Dengue, Gastroenteritis, Jaundice, Conjunctivitis and Leptospirosis which are all known to flare up with the onset of monsoons in Goa. The state's capital Panjim, witnessed over 55 victims of malaria last week with 44 of them infected with the Vivax strain while 10 had the falciparum strain. In June alone, Goa has already had over 491 cases of malaria out of which 109 victims had the deadly falciparum infection.

Areas infested with construction activity in the monsoons are known to be the hotbeds of the disease spread and in the monsoons its spread is faster owing to its breeding in collected water which is mostly prone in construction areas which is full of labour employees who themselves hail from poorly sanitised residences. With the completion of the construction activity cases of malaria are known to decline and in many cases completely disappear.

Health authorities in Goa therefore blame the construction sites to be the areas responsible for the spread of malaria due to the migrant labour spreading the disease among the locals.The detected cases of malaria have nearly doubled from 5000 in 2006 to 9822 in 2008.

According tot he health ministry in Goa over 20,000 WHO approved readymade mosquito nets are expected to be purchased and distributed to migrant labourers at various construction sites in areas such as Candolim and Caranzalem .

Tourists arriving in Goa are normally wary of the malaria infection and therefore take preventive measures toward off the disease by taking medication such as MALARONE which is an anti-malaria preventive treatment. To buy MALARONE online click here.