The World Health Organization says the global fight against Malaria is stalling. In its latest World Malaria report, the W.H.O said more investments are needed to continue with gains.
The report says in 2017, an estimated 219 million cases of malaria occurred worldwide. That is compared with 239 million cases in 2010 and 217 million cases in 2016.
The report also showed that although there were an estimated 20 million fewer malaria cases in 2017 than in 2010, data for the period 2015–2017 highlight that no significant progress in reducing global malaria cases was made in this timeframe.
The latest trend of stalled progress in the fight against Malaria could impact negatively on Africa.
Most malaria cases in 2017 were recorded in Africa (200 million or 92%), followed by South-East Asia region with 5% of the cases and the Eastern Mediterranean region with 2%.
The report showed that five countries accounted for nearly half of all malaria cases worldwide: Nigeria (25%), Democratic Republic of the Congo (11%), Mozambique (5%), India (4%) and Uganda (4%).
The 10 highest burden countries in Africa reported increases in cases of malaria in 2017 compared with 2016.
WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says “as progress stagnates, we are at risk of squandering years of toil, investment and success in reducing the number of people suffering from the disease.”
The World Health Organization says “although funding for malaria has remained relatively stable since 2010, the level of investment in 2017” is far from what is required to reduce at least 40% in malaria case incidence and mortality rates globally by 2020, compared with 2015 levels.
It said some “annual malaria funding will need to increase to at least US$ 6.6 billion per year by 2020.”
The reported highlighted the need to step “up investments in malaria research and development” which is key to achieving the set targets.
Source: Africafeeds.com
