His Royal Highness Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General praised the Minister of Health, Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabeeah and the Ministry staff for issuing the annual report of infectious and parasitic diseases for the year 2010, prepared by the Assistant Agency for Preventive Medicine.
In his message, Prince Sultan said: “I was pleased to know that this year has witnessed a significant decrease of diseases, compared to last year. I would like to thank you, as well as all the Ministry staff, for the efforts you have exerted in an endeavor to reduce and control such diseases. Meanwhile, I am looking forward to exerting more efforts for the purpose of eradicating them, as far as possible. I ask Allah Almighty to protect our country and our citizens from all evils and grant us success. He listens and responds.”
Dr. Al-Rabeeah thanked His Highness for his generous support for the health sector. He pointed out that the report reveals the most significant general health indicators, the improvement of health resources and services provided by the Ministry and other health sectors, in addition to the health services level in the Kingdom, which has improved greatly over the last years.
Moreover, it was mentioned in the annual report that the Kingdom's regions and provinces have witnessed in 2010 a significant decrease in diseases targeted by immunization due to the increase in the coverage of several basic vaccinations. The cases of diphtheria decreased from 0.04 per 100.000 persons in 2002 to 0 per 100.000 persons in 2010; pertussis decreased from 0.54 per 100.000 persons in 2003 to 0 per 100.000 persons in 2010; neonatal tetanus decreased from 0.08 per 100.000 persons in 2004 to 0.01 per 100.000 persons in 2010; Hepatitis (B) decreased from 20.43 per 100.000 persons in 2008 to 18.72 per 100.000 persons in 2010; Hepatitis (A) decreased from 6.77 per 100.000 persons in 2008 to 2.4 per 100.000 persons in 2010; and chickenpox decreased from 242 per 100.000 persons in 2008 to 69.9 per 100.000 persons in 2010.
Moreover, there were also a decrease in the cases of most infectious diseases such as meningitis from 0.09 per 100.000 persons in 2006 to 0.01 per 100.000 persons in 2010; hepatitis (c) from 12.53 per 100.000 persons in 2006 to 9.44 per 100.000 persons in 2010; amoebic dysentery from 15.04 per 100.000 persons in 2007 to 11 per 100.000 persons in 2010; shigella from 0.48 per 100.000 persons in 2009 to 0.36 per 100.000 persons in 2010; and maltese fever from 18.93 per 100.000 persons in 2009 to 17.2 per 100.000 persons in 2010.
Besides, there was only a minimal increase in the incidence of Tuberculosis: from 15.6 per 100.000 persons in 2009 to 16.6 per 100.000 persons in 2010 (only 1:100.000 of the population). This declining rate of increase is due to the improvement in the epidemiological surveillance system and the cooperation between the system and other governmental hospitals.
In addition, the cases of malaria decreased from 0.43 per 100.000 persons last year to 0.2 per 100.000 persons; schistosomiasis cases decreased from 0.3% last year to 0.2%; visceral leishmaniasis cases decreased from 0.07 per 100.000 persons last year to 0.03 per 100.000 persons; while skin leishmaniasis cases reached 16.27 per 100.000 persons compared to 10.05 per 100.000 persons last year.