'Malaria month' begins in Nagaland

Kohima, Jun 02 : Following a high incidence of deaths caused due to Malaria, the Nagaland Health and Family Welfare Department has announced "Malaria month" in the state since yesterday.

The disease has claimed 26 lives in Dimapur district alone in the last three months.

At a function held yesterday Health Minister Dr T. M. Lotha appealed to the people to respond to various preventive measures and avail of various facilities being extended by the government to control Malaria.

Maintaining that complete eradication of the disease might not be possible in the world, Dr Lotha said the government wanted to bring down its present incidence level by attempting to control the breeding of mosquitoes and sought the people's cooperation to make the programme a success.

''Adequate drugs and manpower have been kept ready in all the district headquarters of the state in case of any outbreak of the Malaria epidemic,'' he said.

The entire month of June will be observed as 'Malaria Month', with awareness campaigns to be conducted by various agencies by means of announcements and advertisements on bill boards and newspapers. The All India Radio has also been roped in to be a part of the campaign.

UNI