AN international non-government organisation, Malteser International, is planning to expand its anti-malaria activities to the northern Wa region in Shan State, its country coordinator said earlier this month.

Mr Andre Stülz said Malteser International would launch the activities in Mong Maw in a few months.

The German-based NGO began an anti-malaria project in the southern Wa region in late 2003.

Mr Stülz said the decision to expand the activities followed the success of anti-malaria projects at Mong Pauk and Mong Kar in the southern Wa region and at Pang Kham, the biggest town between the two Wa regions.

He said a decline in malaria rates had enabled Malteser to gain greater community acceptance. The success of the projects had prompted the Wa leaders to invite Malteser to operate in the northern Wa region, which has a population of about 250,000.

Mr Stülz said the organisation had been able to assuage concerns that opium farmers relocated to Mong Kar, where malaria is common, would be seriously affected by the disease.

“The Wa leaders thought that one third of the population in Mong Kar would die of malaria but we were able to prove that they were wrong. There were no reported cases of deaths due to malaria during the past year,” Mr Stülz said.

He said the new project area, Mong Maw, posed greater challenges because of its rugged terrain and the standard of its health facilities and roads.

Landslides were common during the rainy season, which hampered access to remote villages where malaria was rampant.

“We are considering the best ways to reach the communities that need our services,” Mr Stülz said.

He said the Wa leaders had achieved a target of eradicating opium and it was important to ensure that a resulting decline in income among residents of both regions did not affect their ability to pay for food and medical care. Mr Stülz said reducing the incidence of malaria would help to ease concerns among the population about financial and health issues .