Venezuela: Cases of malaria in Bolívar increased by 271.8% in 18 weeks
Between March 4 and July 10, official but undisclosed figures show 80,332 new indigenous cases of malaria.
The Venezuelan Society of Public Health and the Network Defend National Epidemiology warned about the proliferation of reports of malaria or malaria in the country in recent weeks. They pointed out that provisional figures from official sources – not disclosed – reveal that up to July 10 in the state of Bolívar the number of new cases, accumulated to 117,209.
As of March 4, the cases were 36,877, so in 18 weeks the increase of 217.8% was observed. For more than three months, the Ministry of Health has not made the epidemiological information public, including data on malaria. This has not prevented doctors from reporting a rebound in diagnoses: only in the Ruiz and Páez hospital in Ciudad Bolívar, there were 17 pregnant women suffering from the disease.
The organizations stated that there are no precise figures on the number of deaths due to malaria at the national level, but in Bolívar there were 56 reported deaths due to malaria (until July 10), approximately 30% more than last year in the same period. Preliminary calculations of these associations indicate that the number of indigenous cases accumulated in Bolívar during 2017 will be between 200,000 and 250,000, which would mean an increase between 22,000 and 72,000 cases when compared with 2016. In the rest of the country, they project that the number of new cases in 2017 will be between 100,000 and 150,000.
