Among the reasons for the worsening of the epidemic in Kyrgyzstan is the negative situation in regions close to the borders of Tajikistan, close contacts over the border, and the intensive migration of the local population. Tajikistan has witnessed a malaria outbreak, and the disease was registered in 38 districts of the country, which is one third of its territory. The number of infected people there exceeded 1,500 people. Other favorable conditions for malaria epidemic include abundant rainfalls, which provoke a massive propagation of malaria mosquitoes, poor sanitary and hydraulic conditions of the irrigation and drainage systems, the expansion of rice plantations located close to inhabited localities, and the absence of insecticides.

Having realized the threat posed by possible malaria outbreak in Kyrgyzstan, the Kyrgyz government in early June issued a decree “on the measures of fighting and preventing the spread of malaria in the Kyrgyz Republic in 2003”. The decree thoroughly sets out a list of specific measures directed towards preventing the further complication of the epidemic and struggle against malaria in the country. The decree commissioned a number of ministries including the Ministry of Healthcare, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Ecology and Emergency Situations and Ministry of Education as well as the heads of the local administrations to take appropriate preventive as well as management measures related to malaria.

The situation with malaria in Kyrgyzstan has also, besides the government, drawn the attention of a number of international organizations. Because of the complication of the situation with malaria, a Field Office of the World Health Organization was opened in Osh province. Roundtable meetings on the issue of malaria have been held, which involved representatives of interested ministries, donor organizations, official delegates from neighboring countries and others. Due to the close cooperation and financial support of the Euro-WHO, trainings have been conducted for laboratory specialists on how to use methods of malaria diagnostics and for members of the field teams to teach insecticide processing. According to the press service of the Ministry of Healthcare, the WHO provided 500 kilograms of insecticides, which were used to process 1,998,000 square meters of inhabited and uninhabited land. The French non-governmental organization “Akted” has been distributing bed curtains among the population of the most vulnerable regions of the Batken province. Also the WHO and the governments of Turkey and Poland have given Kyrgyzstan microscopes as humanitarian assistance, other diagnostic equipment, medical products, and other necessities to fight malaria.

However, according to specialists, these means provided through humanitarian channels have not been enough to implement necessary anti-malaria measures. As the state sanitary epidemiological inspectorate informs, for August 11, 2003, 156 people infected with malaria were registered. 106 of these people are residents of Batken province, 26 of Jalalabad, 10 of Osh, 6 of Chui province, 7 of Bishkek and 1 of Osh town. Presently there is a substantial shortage of insecticides for fighting against insects carrying malaria. There is also a lack of laboratory equipment for malaria diagnostics.

There have been no reports yet on how many more people were infected during the latter two weeks of August, which were very hot in Kyrgyzstan. As the Kyrgyz meteorological service informs, summer weather will remain for at least another month. Accordingly to the service, September will be hot and dry and the average monthly temperature is expected to be over two degrees Celsius warmer than usual. This is unlikely to calm down the alarming situation, and will rather aggravate it. Hot weather may result in a growing number of malaria-infected people as the malaria-carrying mosquito continues to multiply and the diagnosis of the disease remains relatively limited.