A special symposium on Malaria was hosted by Jeddah's Maternity and Children Hospital on Sunday, under the patronage of Dr. Sami Badawood, the director of Jeddah's Health Affairs management. The symposium aimed to raise general public awareness of the disease, particularly with World Malaria Day (Apr. 25) in mind. “We have held this program to alert society to the dangers of Malaria,” remarked Dr. Abdullah Al-Matrafi, consultant Pediatrician, member of the Zamzam Association for Health Services in Makkah and head of the Saudi health camps program in Africa. According to Al-Matrafi, recent statistics indicate that Malaria kills a million people in Africa alone each year, with three million people getting infected with it. The World Health Organization (WHO), has therefore asked all countries to initiate and maintain campaigns and such symposiums alerting the public to the dangers associated with Malaria. In the Kingdom, the disease in still under control, but Al-Matrafi stresses that there is a need for a nationwide vaccination day (against the disease) to combat any potential afflictions. “We are focusing on the southern as well as coastal cities because mosquitoes prefer wetter climates, where the temperature ranges between 20 and 30 centigrade,” Al-Matrafi explained. “We should focus our medical symposium and consequent surveys on the southern region, starting from Al-Qunfutha, Jizan, Abha and continue to Al-Yaman (the coastal region in western Yemen, bordering the Kingdom).” The existence of widespread misconceptions about Malaria in Saudi society, particularly with respect to the symptoms, causes and methods of prevention, also stresses a greater, underlying need for more symposiums like this. Al-Matrafi highlighted the ease with which Malaria can be avoided. “Malaria can be avoided easily by taking important steps like wearing long sleeves and fully covering the legs, wearing socks, using a number of protective lattices on windows and doors and using effective mosquito repellants,” he said. The symptoms of Malaria are generic - including high body temperatures, increased perspiration and a sense of jerkiness in the body - but discernible through the cycles in which they appear in patients. “After the patient experiences these symptoms, they will disappear for two days and then return and stay for two days and then disappear again,” explained Al-Matrafi. It is highly important, therefore, that if someone experiences such symptoms in such 48-hour cycles, they visit a doctor immediately. The symposium was attended by a variety of medical professionals, as well as medical students, including those studying toward a degree in Pharmacy. The students were particularly interested in details about the vaccination program for Malaria. “We are interested in this symposium because society needs to know all the facts about this disease,” said Hala Marwan, a student at King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah. Dr. Badawood stressed the necessity of uniting medical centers and hospitals in a campaign highlighting the dangers of Malaria. “We are going to tape a video on the dangers and risks associated with Malaria, and we will distribute it to all the television channels currently viewed in all medical establishments,” he said. He also mentioned the importance of running such campaigns in all matters relating to society, and diseases in particular, and called for private companies and various private associations - particularly those working with various segments of society - to also participate in this endeavor.
