WIDESPREAD DAMAGE BY RAIN, HAILSTORM IN WEST

WIDESPREAD DAMAGE BY RAIN, HAILSTORM IN THE WEST

Kathmandu, 10 April:: Crops worth over Rs 10 million have been destroyed due to torrential rain coupled with hailstorm at Shikh-4, Swat in Myagdi during Sunday and
Monday, RSS reports from Myagdi.

The hailstorm caused heavy losses to crops such as potato, maize, wheat and barley cultivated in Ghar, Dana, Patlekhet, Jhee, Pakhapani, Dagnam, Chimkhol besides Shikh VDC, said Shakh VDC-4 ward chairperson Dabal Singh Paija.

Details of the losses triggered by hailstorm is being carried out, informed District Agriculture Office Myagdi.

The hailstorm also destroyed rhododendron blooming in Ghorepani area.
Lightning killed Pushpa Bhatatarai in Pabat Monday.

NC CLOSES DOWN PALPA

Kathmandu, 10 April: Palpa was closed down by NC Tuesday.
The main opposition charged police or misbehaving with a worker and
demanded an apology.
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GOVT. REVIEWING MALARIA SITUATION


Kathmandu, April 9:
With an aim take stock of the current situation of malaria in a holistic manner and make the nation malaria-free in the near future, the government is launching a ‘micro-stratification’ programme nationwide from May, Gita Sapkota reports in the Rising Nepal..
After three decades, the government again has taken the initiative for updating malaria transmission, epidemic burden, changing mosquito behavior and probable places for indigenous malaria parasite.
According to the study of 1994, around 20 million people of 65 districts were at risk of catching malaria. Among them, 31 districts were found with malaria and 13 Terai border districts, namely, Jhapa, Kailali, Kanchanpur, Bardiya, Dhanusha, Morang, Kavre, Mahottari, Sindhuli, Dadeldhura, Ilam, Nawalparasi, and Banke, were malaria prone areas.
The Ministry of Health and Population has been launching the programme for malaria control and detection on a priority basis as per the study of 1994.
However, after a long time and due to climate change, mosquito behavior may have changed and chances of malaria spreading may have increased in more districts, Dr. G. D. Thakur, director of the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division (EDCD) under the Department of Health Services, said.
The government had conducted a National Malaria Control Strategy 2007/8 to 2011/012 with the aim to control malaria.
As the cases of malaria had declined notably after the government intensified its programme, the government changed its strategy and aimed to bring down the malaria transmission to zero by 2018 and eliminate malaria by 2026, the EDCD said.
The micro-stratification will give a clear map to the government to launch a new strategy and programme as per the targets of malaria elimination, Dr. Thakur added.
Nepal will be a malaria free country if the programme goes as planned, Dr. Thakur claimed.
The Global Fund is supporting with around eight million rupees to the government for this programme.
Nepal already met the malaria control target in line with the Millennium Development Goals five years ahead of previous schedule, Tek Raj Pathak, programme officer of malarial control programme, said.
Every year cases of malaria and deaths due to the disease were decreasing, he said.
The government had set a target to halve the number of malaria cases registered at 7,981 in the year 2000 by 2015.
It committed to reduce malaria deaths by 15 per cent from the figures of 2000. According to EDCD, in 2009 around 3,335 malaria cases were reported.
"Malaria deaths in 2008 and 2009 were recorded at 7 to 8 people," he said. However, in the last two years (in 2010 and 2011), no deaths were recorded, he said.
After the success in malarial control in line with MDGs, the government has taken up an ambitious task to eliminate malaria, the WHO representative of Nepal said. The micro stratification is a key for this, he said.
The government has aimed to distribute 2 million supanet in coming five years.
People catch malaria when they come in contact with female mosquitoes named anopheles.
Last year, a total of 3,000 malaria cases were detected. Among reported cases, 500 are plasmodium falciparum (PF) which is a severe type of malaria and may result in deaths and others are plasmodium vivax (PV), a normal type, Pathak said.
Under the malaria control programme, the government has aimed to provide one Supanet for two individuals in malaria prone districts and drugs to kill mosquitoes for 500,000 across the nation.
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