With just 12 years left to achieve the goal of eliminating malaria from 35 countries, many questions remain unanswered
As the world celebrates World Malaria Day, World Health Organization (WHO) affirmed that malaria still kills a child every two minutes. The international body also warns that no child should die because they cannot access life-saving services to prevent, detect and treat the disease.
It was on 25 April 2016 that the WHO released a report that reflected its determination to eliminate malaria from 35 countries by 2030. That vision of a malaria-free world was set out in the “Global technical strategy for malaria 2016–2030″.
The aim of the World Health Assembly was to dramatically lower the global malaria burden. Two years has passed and we are left with twelve years to achieving that goal. How far have the 35 countries gone in achieving that goal and has African leaders taken necessary measures towards curbing malaria epidemic in their respective countries? These are questions many concerned individuals would wish to get answers to from their leaders, stakeholders and the WHO.
WHO said the African region continues to bear an estimated 90% of all malaria cases and deaths worldwide. Fifteen countries – all but one in sub-Saharan Africa – carry 80% of the global malaria burden.
This year’s World Malaria Day focuses global attention on malaria and its devastating impact on families, communities and development, with the theme, “Ready to beat Malaria”. It stresses the need to accelerate efforts to defeat malaria because malaria has remained a major public health and development challenge especially in Africa.
The World Malaria Report 2017 revealed an increase in global malaria cases in 2016 compared to 2015;
“In the African Region there were 194 million new cases and 410 000 deaths in 2016. Fourteen countries with the world’s biggest malaria problem are in sub-Saharan Africa, and account for 80% of the global burden,” the report stated.
In Nigeria, malaria has become a major public health problem but the Government has not kept their fingers crossed and fold hands doing nothing about it. This year, the Nigerian government has been able to secure $300 million as an indication of her renewed efforts by committing to raise malaria up the national priority list. This move should give Nigerians hope that the government is making arrangements to ending malaria by half on or before 2023 as stated by the Commonwealth Health Ministers’ launch of the Commonwealth Nations Initiative at the Malaria Summit held last week in London.
In Nigeria it is estimated that more than 1.5 million cases of malaria are recorded each year with over 300,000 deaths per year. This is coming after Ms Sabina Idowu-Osehobo, the Executive Director of LAPO, disclosed on the 2018 World Malaria Day sensitisation programme in Lagos State that Nigeria losses about N132 billion to Malaria annually through treatment costs, prevention and loss of man hours.
Dr. Matshidoso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, on World Malaria Day 2018 said: “Elimination of malaria requires above all political leadership at the highest level, as well as leadership of programmes, resource mobilization, and intersectoral and cross-border collaboration. We are ready to beat malaria, but the pace of progress must be accelerated to achieve a 40% drop in global malaria cases and deaths by 2020, compared to 2015 levels.
“World Malaria Day is an occasion to renew political commitment and to continue investing for malaria prevention and control. I call on countries affected by malaria to work with development partners to boost investments in malaria prevention and control, especially for new tools to combat malaria. This will propel countries along the road to elimination, and contribute to the achievement of other Sustainable Development Goals, such as improving maternal and child health.”
He then urged countries to allocate adequate resources and to work across sectors and strengthen cross-border collaboration. Dr. Moeti believes we can accelerate our actions to achieve a malaria-free Africa with the required resources, strong coordination and dedicated partners.