Hwaseong Special City Hyohaeng-gu Public Health Center Makes All-Out Effort to Eradicate Malaria Through Government-Military Cooperation

The Hwaseong Special City Hyohaeng-gu Public Health Center will carry out a malaria eradication project targeting the Hwaseong Mobilization Reserve Forces Training Ground from the 11th until this coming October, in order to prevent summer infectious diseases and eradicate malaria.

This project was arranged to preemptively prevent infectious diseases, taking into account the environment around the military base, which has many mountainous areas, thickets, and drainage channels where malaria-carrying mosquitoes can easily breed. Following prior consultation with the military base, the Hyohaeng-gu Public Health Center plans to conduct disinfection activities suited to on-site conditions, such as vehicle-based disinfection and larval control.

In addition, going beyond control activities, the center provided larval control chemicals, tick repellent, and malaria rapid diagnostic test (RDT) kits to enhance the military base's own disinfection and infectious disease response capabilities. It also provided guidance on the proper use of disinfection chemicals and prevention guidelines for vector-borne infectious diseases.

The city plans to continue sharing disinfection information with the military base going forward, and to maintain a close cooperation system so that it can respond quickly in the event of an infectious disease outbreak, while working to prevent vector-borne infectious diseases including malaria.

Kwak Mae-heon, head of the Hyohaeng-gu Public Health Center, said, “For vector-borne infectious diseases, prevention and continuous management are more important than anything else,” adding, “Based on close cooperation with the military base, we will work hard on preventive management so that we can safely protect both citizens and soldiers from vector-borne infectious diseases, including malaria.”