New Telegraph

New malaria infections, deaths on the rise over COVID-19

…as Africa habours 90% of disease burden

 

As Nigeria joined the global community to mark the 2021 World Malaria Day (WMD), the World Health Organisation (WHO) has projected that new malaria infections and deaths were on the rise as a result of the impact of COVID- 19 pandemic.

 

The new development, which was unveiled in the World Malaria Report 2020, said new malaria cases and deaths were likely to rise as a result of the pandemic. The ongoing spread of COVID-19 continues to threaten malaria response, particularly in the highest malaria burden countries including Nigeria where the rate of progress has slowed in recent years.

 

For instance, a recent report from the Global Fund uncovered significant disruptions to health systems across Africa and Asia in 2020 due to COVID-19, with malaria diagnoses falling by 31 per cent.

 

The theme of this year’s World Malaria Day, ‘Zero Malaria – Draw the Line Against Malaria’ celebrates the progress achieved by a diverse set of countries who have achieved zero malaria since 2000. The global awareness day, being marked today April 25, will encourage a growing number of nations on the cusp of elimination and accelerate the movement to end malaria in countries still impacted by the disease.

 

Meanwhile, the WHO at a virtual summit to mark the WMD said 24 countries around the world have eliminated malaria since 2,000, and more countries than ever before were within reach of zero malaria in the coming years. However, stakeholders at the summit urged nations across the world to step up investments to end malaria as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to threaten historic gains against one of the oldest and deadliest diseases.

 

The virtual forum on Malaria Elimination was cohosted by the RBM Partnership to End Malaria and the WHO. Held in the lead-up to this year’s WMD commemorated today, April 25, the event highlighted recent progress towards malaria elimination, with Algeria, Paraguay and Uzbekistan, as well as El Salvador, the first Central American country, all being certified malaria-free since 2015.

 

Over the past two decades, the number of countries that have reduced the burden of malaria to under 1,000 annual cases has more than doubled from 14 to 34, putting the world on track to end malaria within a generation.

 

This WMD, the RBM Partnership to End Malaria urges people in Africa and worldwide to Draw the Line Against Malaria at ZeroMalaria. org and join the conversation on social media by using #DrawTheLine, #ZeroMalaria and #World- MalariaDay.

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