The World Health Organisation (WHO) has disclosed that the African continent recorded 216,600,000 malaria cases last year.
WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, disclosed this in her message commemorating this year’s World Malaria Day.
TheFact Daily gathered that World Malaria Day is marked annually on 25 April to focus global attention on malaria, and its devastating impact on families, communities, and societal development, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Dr. Moeti stated that this year’s theme, “Harness innovation to reduce the malaria disease burden and save lives”, aligned with her call to urgently scale up innovation and the deployment of new tools in the fight against malaria, while advocating for equitable access to malaria prevention and treatment, within the context of building health system resilience.
The WHO Boss said the past year had seen significant breakthroughs in malaria prevention and control, in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic: “Landmark recommendations on the use of the first vaccine against malaria – RTS,S – were released by the World Health Organization late last year.
“This vaccine will be used to prevent malaria among children aged six months to five years, who live in moderate- to high-transmission settings”, she said.
Moeti noted that, while this was a groundbreaking advance in the development of new tools to fight the disease, with the potential to save millions of lives, supplies were currently limited.
She therefore said it was important to ensure that the available doses were utilized for maximum impact, while ensuring continued availability of other preventive measures to those most at risk.
“Malaria remains a significant public health and development challenge. In the last year, about 95% of the estimated 228 million cases occurred in the WHO/AFRO Region, along with 602 020 reported deaths.
“Six of our countries, the worst-impacted by malaria in the Region, are reported to have accounted for up to 55% of cases globally, and for 50% of these deaths.
“Despite some slowing of progress to reduce malaria cases and deaths, and the disruptions to health services caused by COVID-19, we are still much further ahead than we were in 2000. We need to reignite that momentum, and build on the recent advances”, Moeti said.
She further stated that the World Malaria Day was an occasion to renew political commitment and encourage continued investment in malaria prevention and control.
The WHO Regional therefore called on countries and communities affected by malaria to work closely with development partners to advance their countries along the road to elimination of the disease, while contributing to the achievement of other Sustainable Development Goals.
