Bukola Afeni
The World Health Organization has called on governments to mobilize more resources and technical capacities at domestic and international levels, to improve coverage of malaria case management services.
The WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti stated this on the sideline of the World Malaria Day celebration.
The WHO Country Representative in Nigeria, Dr Kazadi Mulombo read Dr Moeti’s speech at the event.
She urged African governments to build effective partnerships and multisectoral mechanisms to help strengthen preventive measures and improve coverage of malaria.
The Regional Director added that Malaria killed 619,000 people with 96% of the people living in African regions in the year 2021.
“It is 6-20 times more likely to spread in mosquito-prone environments than the Omicron variant of sars-cov-2. The disease was once endemic across most of the world, sweeping through the Americas in the 1600s and reaching as far north as the Arctic coast and east as Japan.
” We can now save millions of lives each year from sickness and death caused by malaria following novel progress toward the disease’s elimination.
In 2021, because of the joint actions by malaria-affected countries and partners, malaria deaths decreased compared to 2020 despite the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic”, he said.
Moeti noted that the first malaria vaccine recommended by WHO to prevent malaria in children (also known as RTS, S) is saving lives.
“In Ghana, Kenya and Malawi, where nearly 1.5 million children have received the vaccine through a WHO-coordinated pilot programme, there is a substantial decrease in hospitalizations for severe malaria and a drop in child deaths.
“At least 28 countries in Africa have expressed interest in introducing the vaccine, with some additional countries to start in early 2024. The unprecedented demand for the first malaria vaccine is considered an opportunity to bring children back to clinics to catch up on missed vaccines and child health interventions – including reinforcing the need for children to sleep under ITNs every night.
” It is critically important to deliver this vaccine to children at risk: WHO, Gavi, UNICEF, and other partners are working to increase supply as rapidly as possible to protect more vulnerable children and save more lives”, she said.
She further called on member states to keep malaria high on their agendas as they allocate resources to health.
“We need to reverse the trends and accelerate progress, we must rethink and revitalize our strategies by investing, innovating and implementing smartly.
On investments, we are responsible for increasing funding for malaria interventions through primary health care approaches so that malaria services are accessed by the most vulnerable populations wherever they are”, Moeti added.
