960804

Malaria epidemic

still growing

in Bangladesh

CHITTAGONG(Bangladesh): A fast-spreading malaria epidemic has killed at least 200 people and infected about 100,000 others in a densely forested hill district of Bangladesh, local officials said on Sunday.

"Although 38 medical teams are working, the disease is still spreading," said an official in Bandarban district, in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.

The official said the deaths had occurred since January.

Dr Subhash Das, the Resident Medical Officer in Bandarban, on Sunday confirmed 87 deaths in the past seven months.

He said nearly 35,000 people were infected by malaria in Bandarban, a district with a population of 241,000, half of them original residents and half settlers.

His deputy, Dr Mohammad Ashraf, said medicine was not a problem but medical teams could not reach many affected areas.

"Many villages are inaccessable...far deep into the jungles or across the hills. Only the tribespeople can reach there," he said.

The district has six clinics and one hospital but they are under-staffed with only 35 doctors, local officials said.

Malaria was also causing deaths in the Hill Tracts' two other districts, Khagrachhari and Rangamati. But the situation there is not as alarming as in Bandarban, health officials said.

The 5,500 square mile (14,200 square kilometre) Hill Tracts, bordering India and Burma, has been the scene of a 23-year-old insurgency by the tribal Shanti Bahini (peace force), which is seeking political autonomy.

Official estimates say some 8,000 rebels, soldiers and civilians have been killed in the insurgency, which began in 1973 after Bangladesh had rejected the autonomy demand.-Reuter