Two major public health problems, malaria and dengue, and a number of parasitic and vectorborne diseases have considerable negative impact on health and economic development in the Western Pacific Region. WHO’s work in this area is linked to three international initiatives - Roll Back Malaria, Global Elimination of Filariasis and the Hashimoto Initiative for control of parasitic diseases.
Malaria has been greatly reduced in the 1990s, but the disease still causes about 400 000 cases per year in 10 of the Region’s countries. In the Asian endemic countries, malaria is now found mainly in remote hilly areas and among ethnic minorities and migrants, while in the Pacific, it is widespread in three countries, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.
Dengue fever is reported in more than 30 countries of the Western Pacific Region and is an emerging problem. Increasing urbanization has resulted in a growing number of people living in poor housing with lack of proper waste disposal and inadequate drainage, creating favourable breeding conditions for the mosquito vectors.
Filariasis is a major health problem in many Pacific island countries and in some parts of Cambodia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Viet Nam. In recent years, efforts to eliminate the disease through annual mass drug adminstration of albendazole in combination with diethylcarbamazine have been carried out in most of the endemic countries.
Soil-transmitted helminthiases are almost universal in tropical and subtropical areas. In areas of intense transmission, where these diseases impair growth and performance of schoolchildren and cause anaemia in women, sanitation and hygiene education should be supplemented by intermittent mass treatment of schoolchildren. In some cases, mass treatment for filariasis elimination may also reduce transmission of soil-transmitted helminths.
Other parasitic diseases including schistosomiasis, foodborne trematode infections and zoonoses are focal, affecting underprivileged rural populations.