South Korea has shipped US$1.22 million worth of anti-malaria supplies to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to help prevent the spread of the disease over the summer months, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said Thursday.

The supplies include medicine for 50,000 people, 100,000 mosquito nets, insecticides and test kits to check for infection, the Yonhap news agency reported.

KCDC, a disease control agency under the South Korean Health Ministry, said a ship carrying the supplies left Incheon, 40 kilometers west of the capital Seoul, earlier in the day and is expected to reach Nampo, DPRK's main sea port on the Yellow Sea, within the day.

"The supplies are designed to help North Korea combat the spread of the malaria while at the same time reducing the likelihood of malaria-carrying mosquitoes from reaching South Korea," a health official said.

(Xinhua News Agency June 27, 2008)