The Director of the National Malaria Elimination Service (SNEM), Guillermo Gonz?lez, reported yesterday that the DR had 2,006 cases of malaria detected in 1998, a tiny fraction of the 1,070,000 cases reported in the Americas every year. He said that traditionally the DR registers between 1,400 and 1,800 cases a year, so last year was an exceptional year. About 80% of the cases are from the border provinces of Dajab?n, Jiman?, Mao Valverde, Montecristi and Pedernales, with the remainder divided between Santiago and Santo Domingo. With the help of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the European Union’s (EU) Lom? Convention health program, the DR and Haiti are cooperating to try to tackle the problem in the frontier region.
