The World Health Organisation (WHO) has certified Egypt as malaria-free, marking a significant public health milestone for the country.
The achievement is the culmination of a nearly 100-year effort by the Egyptian government and people to eradicate the disease, which has been present in the country since ancient times, the WHO said.
Malaria, a mosquito-borne infectious disease, has been a major public health challenge in Egypt for millennia.
The disease was first recorded in the country about 4000 BC, with genetic evidence of the disease found in the mummies of ancient Egyptian pharaohs, including Tutankhamun, the WHO said.
“Malaria is as old as Egyptian civilisation itself, but the disease that plagued pharaohs now belongs to its history and not its future,” Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director general, said in a video message congratulating Egypt on the milestone.
Egypt has now joined the ranks of 44 countries and one territory that have achieved malaria-free status. It joins the UAE and Morocco from the Arab world.
The journey to elimination was not without its challenges. In the 1920s, Egypt began to reduce human-mosquito contact by prohibiting the cultivation of rice and other crops near homes. The country designated malaria as a notifiable disease in 1930 and established its first malaria control station focused on diagnosis, treatment and surveillance.
Despite these efforts, malaria cases increased to more than three million in 1942 due to population displacement during the Second World War and the disruption of medical supplies and services. However, Egypt succeeded in controlling the outbreak by establishing 16 treatment divisions and recruiting more than 4,000 health workers.
The construction of the Aswan Dam in 1969 created a new malaria risk, but the country launched a rigorous vector control and public health surveillance project to rapidly detect and respond to malaria outbreaks. By 2001, malaria was firmly under control, and the Ministry of Health and Population set its sights on preventing the re-establishment of local malaria transmission.
Today, Egypt's strong cross-border partnership with neighbouring countries, including Sudan, has been instrumental in preventing the re-establishment of local malaria transmission, the WHO said.
Malaria diagnosis and treatment are provided free of charge to anyone living in the country, regardless of legal status, and health professionals are trained to screen for malaria cases, including at borders.
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The flights
Flydubai flies to Podgorica or nearby Tivat via Sarajevo from Dh2,155 return including taxes. Turkish Airlines flies from Abu Dhabi and Dubai to Podgorica via Istanbul; alternatively, fly with Flydubai from Dubai to Belgrade and take a short flight with Montenegro Air to Podgorica. Etihad flies from Abu Dhabi to Podgorica via Belgrade. Flights cost from about Dh3,000 return including taxes. There are buses from Podgorica to Plav.
The tour
While you can apply for a permit for the route yourself, it’s best to travel with an agency that will arrange it for you. These include Zbulo in Albania (www.zbulo.org) or Zalaz in Montenegro (www.zalaz.me).
Managing the separation process
- Choose your nursery carefully in the first place
- Relax – and hopefully your child will follow suit
- Inform the staff in advance of your child’s likes and dislikes.
- If you need some extra time to talk to the teachers, make an appointment a few days in advance, rather than attempting to chat on your child’s first day
- The longer you stay, the more upset your child will become. As difficult as it is, walk away. Say a proper goodbye and reassure your child that you will be back
- Be patient. Your child might love it one day and hate it the next
- Stick at it. Don’t give up after the first day or week. It takes time for children to settle into a new routine.And, finally, don’t feel guilty.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?
The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
Bloomberg
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