“I have
really understood the issues
related to malaria”, says Mr. Thamrin Wata, the
Culture and Tourism Officer of South Sulawesi province in Indonesia. “It is
very important for my work to know about this
disease, because it is crucial for us to protect our tourist destinations from malaria to make them
more attractive for travellers. Before I joined this malaria working group, I thought that tourism is
only related to sexually transmitted diseases and HIV infections.
But now I have
realized that malaria plays
also a role.
 |
| A baby sleeps under a bed net in Selayar district © UNICEF Indonesia / 2012 / Asri |
Mr Thamrin Wata has
been working in
the Tourism Office of South Sulawesi province since 1990. During
all this time, he never
received clear information about malaria and so he did not consider malaria a serious disease one
needs to be scared of.
In
October 2012, Mr. Thamrin Wata attended a workshop about malaria in Makassar sponsored by UNICEF in
collaboration with
the Provincial Health Office South Sulawesi. In this workshop he learned
that malaria is a dangerous disease, especially in children and pregnant women,
if not correctly managed by health workers. It is also a problem for holiday destinations,
because tourists, especially foreigners, are scared of malaria infections and prefer
to travel to areas that are free from malaria. As this directly relates to his
work for the Tourism Office of South Sulawesi, Mr. Thamrin Wata decided to
become a member of the malaria working group.
