Though faced with a number of public health challenges,Jerseys Cheap, the Ministry of Public Health is not about to backslide and lose the many gains already made. One of the areas that is getting particular focus is that of malaria, according to Chief MedicalChief Medical Officer, Dr. Shamdeo Persaud.Officer Dr. Shamdeo Persaud.The Ministry’s records suggest that the cases of malaria have been consistently decreasing over the years.And this has left the Ministry poised for elimination of the virus altogether which could essentially help to ease the financial burden in this area of health care.Tackling malaria falls under the Vector Control Services Unit of the Public Health Ministry. The Unit’s effort to combat malaria has for a number of years been supported by the Global Fund programme. This programme is one that helps to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Funds for the programme are disbursed after the heads of the respective health units in eligible countries prepare and submit viable proposals.The Vector Control Services Unit was able to qualify for an extension of funds from Global Fund again this year and according to Dr. Persaud, “there are areas that we are looking at.”Key among the Ministry’s vision is to considerably reduce the incidence of malaria in what Dr. Persaud described as “hot spots.” But the ultimate aim, according to the CMO, is to achieve elimination. And the Ministry is already on course to realise this elimination in some areas, Dr. Persaud asserted.“I think Region Nine is prime for elimination of malaria, that is, the Upper Takutu/Upper Essequibo Region, because the number of cases has dropped significantly over the last couple of years,” Dr. Persaud related.“The final push is to have surveillance in place, even though we might see imported cases like what we have here in Georgetown; so where we don’t have transmission we can achieve this and that is possible in many other areas too,” the CMO assured.Even as the Ministry eyes elimination in some areas,NFL Jerseys China Cheap, Dr. Persaud said that there are some new areas that are being explored. He considered that “we rely heavily on microscopy as the form of detection of cases. It is a little time consuming and it requires an extra amount of skills in preparing the slides; reading them requires more resources.”But there are plans, he disclosed, to change this state of affairs. The World Health Organisation (WHO) is currently recommending the use of an easier method. This method, according to Dr. Persaud, is the rapid test kits and “we are hoping to role those out, especially in some of those far out areas,Cheap NFL Football Jerseys, so that we can be a little bit more prompt with the diagnosis so that we can apply treatment quickly.”“Theoretically, if we were to catch everybody with malaria, everybody, not 50 percent, everybody with malaria. and treat them immediately on the occurrence of symptoms, we will prevent them from developing what are gametocytes,” Dr. Persaud explained.Gametocytes are the male and female forms of the malaria parasites that form the next generation of the malaria virus. The CMO therefore noted that the longer the period of untreated cases, the more likely they will develop gametocytes.? He continued “sometimes they don’t respond to the regular treatment that we offer and we have to give an additional drug to knock those gametocytes out.”But in rare instances, he disclosed, there are some healthy people who can have gametocytes thus the virus can still be transmitted. “That is a little technicality that we are working on and that will really move us to the point of elimination,” added Dr. Persaud.And Dr. Persaud is convinced that the elimination vision of the Ministry is very attainable. He premised this on the fact that the programme embraced by health sectors across South America, have been very effective. “Suriname has done a really good job. I think Suriname has moved to just about 1,000 cases annually now while we are still between 5,000 to 10,Wholesale Jerseys,000,” said Dr. Persaud. And according to him,Wholesale Authentic Jerseys, “We need to bring our rates down too…”At present there is a proposed programme under the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) and the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) to look at the Guiana Shield altogether. The Guiana Shield includes Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana and parts of Brazil and Venezuela.This proposed programme,Wholesale NFL Jerseys China, according to Dr. Persaud, is designed to look at the movement of people; cross border control measures and the implementation of strategies to reduce cases.“Big ticket