-as part of Health Ministry’s initiative to reduce casesA new initiative has been introduced by the Ministry of Public Health to help reduce the prevalenceKeith Mooreof malaria in endemic areas where mining activities are very widespread. The initiative which was piloted at a mining camp is in fact one that sees miners having an integral role to play in the fight against malaria. And the initiative is already yielding success, according to Operations Training Officer within the Vector Control Services Unit of the Public Health Ministry, Mr. Keith Moore.Moore has for years been involved in the public health sector’s battle to help suppress the spread of malaria. But according to him, it was recognised many years ago that “miners on the whole, when they have malaria and they find gold, the gold is the first consideration.”Moreover, the situation that often obtains, Moore noted, is that by the time miners would have secured their gold, “they are in a wretched state…then they will come for treatment.”Malaria is a life-threatening blood disease caused by parasites transmitted to humans through the bites of the Anopheles mosquito. Guyana has for years been waging war against this disease. Although there has been some success, there is yet more to be done.This was emphasised by Keith Moore.Moore said that a culture where health care ‘plays second fiddle’ to finding gold is one that has long existed in Guyana’s malarious regions. This, moreover, has been a major challenge to the Ministry of Public Health in the quest to reduce the prevalence of malaria which is endemic in the Regions of One, Seven, Eight, Nine, and to a lesser extent Region Ten.These areas are home to gold mining activities engaged by a number of persons who are sometimes ignorant of the risk they are taking to mine or simply don’t care.But according to Moore, when miners opt to seek belated medical attention, the task of fighting malaria becomes even harder – more expensive and more time consuming.“When they come out in that condition it means that death is not far away, that means we have use other methods other than the normal methods…we have to use invasive methods like drips and so on.“So when they are in that position it is easier for them to die,” Moore related. He shared, too, that such situations only serve to negatively impact already daunting malaria statistics. Cases of malaria are reported in the thousands in some areas but Moore is convinced that Guyana has the potential to bring down malaria cases to a manageable 30 cases per month in the endemic areas.He believes that the initiative that has been set in motion could considerably aid this process along. Essentially Moore disclosed that the Ministry has decided to train miners to help the fight malaria even in the absence of vector control workers.“What we have decided is that in areas where there are clusters of mines we will find a mining camp that has a responsible owner and has a well regulated and well coordinated set of activities…it must have an infirmary, must have people living there, must have (insecticide-treated) bed nets being used,Stitched Jerseys, it must be well established, not a fly by night mine where they are living under tarpaulin and are going to move tomorrow,Cheap Jerseys China,” Moore said, as he disclosed, “we are going to train people from that established camp to do a number of things.”Among the training possible through this initiative, Moore said, is how to diagnose malaria quickly. This, he said, means that miners are taught how to do rapid malaria tests and also take blood smears.“We train them to treat according to the diagnosis. We will train more than one person in that (main) camp…to help us deal with malaria cases…At all times a person must be there. We will give them the drugs to treat, we will teach them how to treat and we will give them everything they need to do that work,” related Moore.He, however, asserted,Cheap Authentic NFL Jerseys, “We are looking for one type of treatment so this service is not going to be extended to children and pregnant women.”The initiative, according to Moore, was deliberately designed to help ensure that miners in particular are diagnosed early and treated early.This is important, Moore noted, since it has been proven that once patients are subjected to early treatment they have a better chance of recuperating properly.The camp that the Ministry is currently using to pilot the initiative is one that is owned by a miner by the name of Ian Best in whose care all equipment, drugs and other materials to deal with malaria are being kept.The camp,NFL Jerseys Outlet, Moore said, is situated in Region Eight beyond Mahdia thus miners who become inflicted with malaria will no l