JAKARTA, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia has been prioritizing malaria control in endemic areas in the country's eastern region, the Health Ministry said on Thursday.
"Of the total 418,546 malaria cases in 2023, 369,119 of them were found in Papua, Central Papua, South Papua, and Highland Papua," said Imran Pambudi, the ministry's director of infectious disease prevention and control.
Malaria cases in the archipelagic nation fell from 443,530 in 2022 to 418,546 in 2023, but Indonesia still has the second highest cases in Asia after India.
With 217,025 cases in 2015, the number of cases has increased within a decade. Pambudi suspected that the increase was triggered by the improved surveillance recording and reporting system.
The country has conducted 3 million malaria tests in 2023, mainly in endemic areas. ■