The World Health Organization (WHO) has called on countries and communities affected by malaria to work closely with development partners to advance along the road to eliminating malaria in the world.
WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, said in her message as the world marks the 2022 World Malaria Day that “we can overcome the challenge if we collaborate closely with governments, partners and communities”.
“World Malaria Day today is an occasion to renew political commitment and encourage continued investment in malaria prevention and control. I call on countries and communities affected by malaria to work closely with development partners to advance our countries along the road to elimination, while contributing to the achievement of other Sustainable Development Goals. I personally, and the WHO Regional Office in Africa, remain fully committed to the fight against malaria. Together, we can accelerate our efforts to achieve a malaria-free Africa”.
Dr Matshidiso Moeti
World Malaria Day is marked annually on 25th April to focus global attention on malaria, and its devastating impact on families, communities and societal development, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa.
This year’s theme is ‘Harness innovation to reduce the malaria disease burden and save lives’. Dr. Matshidiso Moeti said the theme for 2022 aligns 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.
Progress in malaria prevention and control
The WHO Regional Office in Africa disclosed that the past year has seen significant breakthroughs in malaria prevention and control, in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Commenting on these breakthroughs, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti said that 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, she said, will be used to prevent malaria among children aged six months to five years, who live in moderate- to high-transmission settings.
“While this is a groundbreaking advance in the development of new tools to fight this disease, with the potential to save millions of lives, supplies are currently limited. As such, it is important to ensure that the doses that are available are utilized for maximum impact, while ensuring continued availability of other preventive measures to those most at risk”.
Dr Matshidiso Moeti
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, the WHO disclosed. Dr. Matshidiso Moeti indicated that “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”.
Notable achievements in fight against malaria
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”, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti said.
Dr Matshidiso Moeti highlighted that seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) campaigns were implemented as planned in 2021, ensuring protection for an additional 11.8 million children. Indoor residual spraying was also carried out, and long-lasting insecticidal nets distributed, largely as planned.
Other notable achievements include the scaled implementation of RTS, S vaccine pilots in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi, which reached up to 900, 000 children.
The WHO Regional Office in Africa indicated that the ultimate goal is to reduce the number of people catching and dying from malaria. This requires a focus on research and on leveraging available evidence to ensure that our targeted interventions are an efficient use of resources, which produce measurable results, she added. The WHO therefore, called for the need to work on drug and insecticide resistance, as well as focus on new strains of malaria arising in the Region, which are more difficult to detect and treat.
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