‘Rs. 650 million saved by eliminating malaria’

Sri Lanka was able to save Rs. 650 million from 2008 to 2014 by eliminating malaria, Health Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne said.

The Minister was delivering a speech at the`Reaching the Last Mile: Mobilizing Together to Eliminate Infectious Diseases’ conference held at the Abu Dhabi Global Market on November 15.

Malaria patients were not reported from Sri Lanka after 2008. In 2016, WHO certified that Sri Lanka has successfully eliminated malaria.

Minister Senaratne said Sri Lanka has free health and education service and the country’s literacy rate was 97 percent. Using mosquito repellent nets are very popular among Sri Lankans, he had stated.

Only 17 malaria patients were reported from Sri Lanka in 2012 but in 1935, it killed 82,000 people and again in 1999, the disease killed about 600,000, he said.