WHO announced the “2023 World Malaria Report”. Despite progress in preventing malaria in children and pregnant women and steps taken to increase access to medicines, more people are contracting malaria, the report says.
Publika.az it is reported with reference to foreign media that in 2022, approximately 249 million people in the world will be infected with malaria. Extreme weather events such as heat waves and floods can also directly affect transmission and disease burden, the report noted. It was emphasized that the floods that occurred in Pakistan in 2022 caused a 5-fold increase in the number of malaria cases in the country.
It was emphasized that the COVID-19 epidemic has significantly weakened malaria services, and it has been said that the pandemic process has led to an increase in both morbidity and mortality, as well as a negative impact on the fight against the disease. The largest increase was noted in Pakistan, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea and Uganda. WHO has also recommended a second vaccine, R21/Matrix-M, to prevent the disease in children at risk of malaria.
“Many low-burden countries have made progress towards eliminating malaria. In 2022, 34 countries reported fewer than 1,000 malaria cases, compared to 13 in 2000. This year alone, Azerbaijan, Belize and Tajikistan They received a certificate of freedom from malaria from WHO,” the report says.
The report also calls for a major turning point in the fight against malaria with increased resources, strengthened political will, data-driven strategies and innovative tools, and calls for the threat of climate change not to be ignored in this fight.
WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted that changing climate conditions pose a significant risk to progress in the fight against malaria, especially in vulnerable regions:
“Sustained and sustainable antimalarial interventions are needed now more than ever, along with urgent measures to slow the pace and mitigate the effects of global warming.”
