Yemen's health ministry recently announced a new strategy to fight malaria in the country at a reduced cost. In place of annual campaigns against the disease, it plans to have permanent teams looking after malaria-affected areas in the country. People from malaria-prone villages will be trained to implement preventive measures.

The new strategy would lower costs as involvement of local people would cut down transportation and housing costs, said Abdul-Salam al-Aqel, director-general of Yemen's National Malaria Control Programme. who is helping implement the new strategy.

Malaria claims about 12,000 people in Yemen, every year. The country has the highest incidence of malaria in West Asia. In the last six years, Yemen had spent us $9 million to combat malaria.

About 260,000 houses were sprayed with disinfectant to protect them against malaria and 321,000 mosquito nets were distributed as part of the annual campaign against malaria that had started in 2003. The new strategy will aim to spray 400,000 houses and distribute 450,000 nets in the country.