A medical report has noted that malaria has soared in the province of Mahara, attributing the increase of affected cases to the large number of unsafe pools and the absence of sanitary systems. According to the initial report on the activities of medical teams assigned to combat the disease in districts of the province, 686 cases were tested, out of which 66 cases were found affected. The province was one of many parts of the republic afflicted by heavy rains in last year. The report is released as the Global Vaccine Coalition has announced it will provide $ 14.8 million in aid for Yemen to supply the pneumonia vaccine as of 2010.

On February 27, Public Health and Population Minister Abdul Karim Rasi headed to the Netherlands to represent the MENA region countries in the annual meeting of the coalition which was held in Rotterdam. At the meeting, the minister put forward some proposals aimed at activating and improving the programs of the coalition. Foremost among the proposals was to limit the interventions of the coalition in national medical policies of countries.

Yemen also proposed to back production of vaccines in capable states such as China and India in an effort to reduce the soaring prices of vaccines as well as encouraging the World Health Organization to speed up qualifying the countries to be covered by the organization medical policies. Moreover, Yemen called for identifying cooperation relationships between the coalition and countries and promoting common work to face challenges caused by the global financial crisis through establishing mechanisms to support vaccines in the developing countries.

Meanwhile, opening a workshop on the drawing up of the national plan to prevent and control bird flu, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Abdul Karim Al-Arhabi urged Wednesday strengthening precautionary measures to face the epidemic. During the workshop that was organized by the Ministry of Public Health and Population, Al-Arhabi affirmed the importance of providing necessary funds to implement the plan, urging a concerted action by all competent authorities.

On the other hand, the UN World Food Program has announced that its programs for the next period will target the poorest areas in Amran province. A program official said the activities will include surveys and field studies as well as taking random samples from the target areas. The WFP official's remarks were given during his meeting with secretary general of the province Local Council during which the two discussed program plans to support the health sector in the province.