RIYADH — The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief) has launched a World Health Organization-backed project to combat malaria in Yemen, Saudi Press Agency reported on Wednesday. The project is as part of the humanitarian efforts being made by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to help Yemen in combating various epidemics and deadly diseases, including malaria, Yemen has been suffering from for many years, especially the outbreak of the deadly epidemic among children and pregnant women and in the high coastal areas. Saudi Arabia, represented by the KSrelief, recently signed joint cooperation agreement with the WHO worth $10.5 million to combat and prevent malaria epidemic in Yemen for a period of up to 18 months, covering all Yemeni provinces affected by the disease. The project, which aims to cater to 7 million people in Yemen, includes providing regular and severe malaria treatment drugs to Yemeni patients in all governorates, and supporting the WHO and the Yemeni government warehouses with a wide range of drugs as a sufficient stockpile to cover any emergency need in the event of a pandemic. The KSrelief also works through the project to secure necessary labs equipment for diagnosing malaria in hospitals and health centers in provinces badly affected by epidemic. It is securing mosquito nets to be distributed among one million and 300,000 individuals in the most affected areas. KSrelief is also providing more than 1,500 automatic pumps with all their accessories, in addition to securing external and internal pesticides and distributing them to the specialists, spraying in the affected areas, targeted to control mosquitoes, according to the standards of the WHO. The project activities also include health education for citizens, capacity building by training and qualifying more than 3,500 health personnel, which is one of the largest training programs at the level of Yemen, and assigning specialized experts from the WHO to supervise the project, in addition to supporting the national program to combat malaria in Yemen by sending cadres outside Yemen to receive a diploma specialized in malaria control for a period of 6 months, which will contribute to the sustainability of the program and raise the efficiency of its personnel.
