RIYADH, 14 May 2008 — Jizan Gov. Prince Muhammed ibn Nasser, will sponsor the Kingdom’s malaria campaign set to kick off today from the Jizan city.

The program designed to observe the International Malaria Day, which will fall on May 25, will be jointly inaugurated by the Jizan governor and Health Minister Dr. Hamad Al Manie.

“This year, the program which would start off with a symposium, is geared to wipe out malaria from the Kingdom’s shores,” Health Ministry spokesman Dr. Khalid Al Mirghlani told Arab News yesterday.

He said, the disease, which is common on the Saudi-Yemen border, will be wiped out during this year with the implementation of a planned program of the ministry.

WHO Representative in the Kingdom Dr. Awad Abu Zaid and WHO expert on malaria, Dr. Mohammed Ali Khalil, will address the people in Jizan to tell them of the preventive and curative measures.

The ministry of health will also organize a series of programs to create a public awareness against the disease that is prevalent in the Southern parts of the Kingdom.

Dr. Mirghlani said that there are 14 medical centers in places where the disease is prevalent. “We have deployed trained medics and paramedics to handle malaria patients with adequate supply of medicines.”

The spokesman described the disease as preventable and treatable. More than a million people die of malaria every year, up to 500 million people contract the disease annually and nearly 40 percent of the world’s population is considered at risk from the disease.