World Malaria Day

Despite the seemingly progress report that have been recorded in the curb and cure of the Malaria, there seems to been more work to do if this deadly scourge must be a thing of the past. As the world celebrates world malaria day, the world health organisation has called up for accelerated scale-up effort to prevent malaria and also to save life. 

Together with diagnosis and treatment, WHO recommends a package of proven prevention approaches, including insecticide treated nets, spraying indoor walls with insecticides, and preventive medicines for the most vulnerable groups: pregnant women, under-fives and infants.

"WHO-recommended tools have made a measurable difference in the global malaria fight," said Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of WHO. "But we need a much bigger push for prevention – especially in Africa, which bears the greatest burden of malaria."

In line with some of the progress recorded in recent time, a report by the WHO suggest that In sub-Saharan Africa, which shoulders 90% of the global malaria burden, more than 663 million cases have been averted since 2001. Insecticide-treated nets have had the greatest impact, accounting for an estimated 69% of cases prevented through control tools.

Reductions in malaria case incidence and deaths (2010-2015)

WHO Region	Case incidence rate reduction	Mortality rate reduction
Europe	100%	100%
South-East Asia	54%	46%
Americas	31%	37%
Western Pacific	30%	58%
Africa	21%	31%
Eastern Mediterranean	11%	6%
Global	21%	29%

This progress on malaria is no accident. It’s the result of an unprecedented increase in focus and commitment by rich and poor countries alike. The amount of money available to pay for bed nets, effective medications, and malaria research rose by 1,000 percent from 2000 to 2015, fueling massive new prevention and control efforts in countries hit hard by malaria.

WHO's latest report spotlights critical gaps in prevention coverage, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. An estimated 43% of people at risk of malaria in the region were not protected by either a net or indoor insecticide spraying in 2015. Approximately 69% of pregnant women in 20 African countries did not have access to the recommended 3 or more doses of preventive treatment.

Across the Sahel, where most malaria cases and deaths among children occur in the rainy season, WHO recommends seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC), a preventive therapy shown to reduce new cases of severe malaria in young children by approximately 75%. As of 2015, 10 countries - Burkina Faso, Chad, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo - had adopted WHO’s SMC policy and begun implementing it.

In recent years, 7 countries have been certified by the WHO Director-General as having eliminated malaria: United Arab Emirates (2007), Morocco (2010), Turkmenistan (2010), Armenia (2011), Maldives (2015), Sri Lanka (2016) and Kyrgyzstan (2016). This certification is granted by WHO when countries achieve at least 3 consecutive years of zero locally-acquired cases of malaria.

Global progress and disease burden

According to the World Malaria Report 2016, the rate of new malaria cases fell by 21% globally between 2010 and 2015. Malaria death rates fell by 29% in the same 5-year period. In sub-Saharan Africa, case incidence and death rates fell by 21% and 31%, respectively.

Other regions have made substantial gains in their malaria responses, but the disease remains a major public health threat. In 2015, the global tally of malaria reached 429 000 malaria deaths and 212 million new cases. One child died from malaria every 2 minutes.

WHO's global technical strategy for malaria, 2016-2030

In May 2015, the World Health Assembly approved WHO’s Global Technical Strategy for Malaria 2016–2030, a 15-year blueprint for all countries working to control and eliminate malaria. The strategy set ambitious targets for 2030, including reducing malaria case incidence and death rates by at least 90%, eliminating malaria in at least 35 countries, and preventing the reintroduction of malaria in all countries that are malaria free.

Interim 2020 targets call for 40% reductions in malaria case incidence and death rates and for the elimination of malaria in at least 10 countries. Less than half of the world’s 91 countries with malaria transmission are on track to achieve these interim targets for case incidence and mortality reductions.