In eastern Loikaw Township, Karenni State, eight out of ten patients arriving at clinics are suffering from malaria.

Dr. Ye Zaw said that in some cases, patients do not even need blood tests because the symptoms alone are enough to identify malaria.

“At this time, even if someone only has mild chills and a headache without showing severe fever symptoms, we can already suspect malaria. Among the patients who come to me with fever, about seven or eight out of ten have malaria. Sometimes, I don’t even need to do a blood test. Just by looking at their face and asking which displacement camp they are staying at, I can already tell them, ‘You have malaria; no need to test.’ This is the situation right now. Based on the patients coming to me, around 70 to 80 percent are malaria cases,” Dr. Ye Zaw said.

As it is currently the rainy season, mosquitoes are everywhere. He added that preventing mosquito bites is essential to reducing the risk of malaria infection.

Although the clinic does not have sufficient medicine stocks at the moment, medical staff are continuing treatment using the medicines currently available.

There are currently more than 10,000 internally displaced people living in camps in eastern Loikaw Township, and mosquito nets are still urgently needed.