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Makkah and Madinah declared malaria-free cities

By SAEED AL KHOTANI | ARAB NEWS

Published: Nov  17, 2010 00:08                Updated: Nov  17, 2010 00:08

MINA: Makkah and Madinah are malaria-free cites, said Assistant Deputy Health Minister for Preventive Medicine Ziad Maimish at a press conference on Tuesday.

He announced that the cases of malaria infections found among some pilgrims were imported ones by them from their home countries.

“This is simply because these two cities do not have the type of mosquito causing this disease,” he pointed out.

Maimish commended Muslim countries for the cooperation they showed in getting their pilgrims follow the health guidelines and instructions every year.

“The surveillance measures taken by the Ministry of Health at the Kingdom’s ports of entry, showed that the majority of Muslim countries were complying with Hajj health instructions set by Saudi health authorities,” he said. “Almost 98 percent of pilgrims from abroad were vaccinated against meningitis, Also, they were vaccinated against the other two risky diseases in mass gathering situations: yellow fever and polio. We vaccinated the remaining here.”

He also talked about food poisoning as a threat on pilgrims’ health.

“This is a very serious matter for us and therefore we formed a joint committee along with the related ministries … to monitor and inspect food processing and selling at different pilgrims gathering spots. The results have been satisfactory so far.”

Source: Arab News