Malaria in the Philippines

CEBU, Philippines – Malaria endemicity in the Philippines is now generally characterized as moderate to low. Within the moderately endemic areas, however, are clusters of "hot spots" where high transmission still exists.

The areas where these pockets of high endemicity persist are characterized as rural, hilly or mountainous, having streams, remote and very hard to reach, frontier and regions (i.e. provincial or regional borders), populated by indigenous cultural groups, constricted by socio-political conflicts, areas in which "access to and availability of basic health services and correct information remain difficult for people at risk, and "among the poorest in the country (belonging to the fifth- and sixth-class municipalities) with meager financial resources to implement anti-malaria programs.

According to Roll Back Malaria, data averaged over 10 years (from 1991 to 2000) show that malaria is endemic in 65 of the country's 79 provinces. This translates to 760 of the 1,600 municipalities and 9,345 of the 42,979 barangays nationwide - with 90 percent of the cases found in 25 of the 65 endemic provinces.

During the period from 1991 to 2000, Mindanao had the most number of malaria cases at 53 percent, followed by Luzon at 46 percent and Visayas at 1 percent. During the same period, some provinces were considered to be already malaria-free (with no more indigenous cases for at least three years). These were Cebu, Bohol, Catanduanes, Aklan, Capiz, Guimaras, Siquijor, Biliran, Iloilo, Leyte Norte, Leyte Sur, Northern Samar, and Camiguin. Of these provinces, though, some were still potentially malarious due to the presence of the malaria-carrying mosquitoes.

More recent data provided by the Department of Health (for the period from 2001 to 2005), identify the provinces with no significant improvement in the last 10 years or where the malaria situation had worsened in the last 5 years: Cagayan, Isabela, Palawan, Davao del Sur, Agusan del Sur, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Apayao, and Sultan Kudarat.

According to a research done by Mary Ann D. Lansang, M.D. where she used the annual parasite index as an indicator, among the residents in these endemic areas, "around 7 percent reside in areas stratified by the Department of Health's Malaria Control Service as Malarious "A" areas (mostly mobile population in forest and forest-fringe areas, with more than 2 percent parasite rate); 25 percent are in areas with mostly stable population in foothills and plains with more than 2  percent parasite rate; while around 68 percent are in Malaria Epidemic-Prone Areas.

It could also be further noted that in 2004, malaria also remained as one of the top 10 leading causes of morbidity, not only nationwide where it ranks eighth, but also in certain regions.

(pinoymalaria.wordpress.com)