JAKARTA, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari said on Monday that about 45 percent of the country's population is at risk of contracting malaria.

    Speaking to a hearing with the House of Representatives (DPR), the minister said 424 of Indonesia's 495 districts and cities were malaria endemic regions.

    She said high endemic regions with an annual parasite incidence (API) rate of more than five per one thousand people were scattered in the provinces of Maluku, North Maluku, Papua, West Papua, North Sumatra and East Nusa Tenggara.

    Medium endemic regions with an API rate of one to five per one thousand people were to be found in the provinces of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD), Bangka Belitung, Riau Islands, Jambi, Central Kalimantan, Central Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi, West Nusa Tenggara, Central Java and West Java.

    Only small parts of Java, Kalimantan and Sulawesi were low endemic regions with an API rate of less than one per 1,000 while non-endemic regions were Jakarta, Bali and Riau Islands.

    The minister said that her ministry had been carrying out continued efforts to eliminate malaria in the country.