Prevent malaria – save lives: WHO push for prevention on World Malaria Day, Today

At an event on the eve of World Malaria Day in Nairobi, WHO called today for accelerated scale-up of efforts to prevent malaria and save lives.

Even though Sri Lanka was declared Malaria free in 2012, the island is still facing the Malaria threat.

In sub-Saharan Africa, which shoulders 90% of the global malaria burden, more than 663 million cases have been averted since 2001. Insecticide-treated nets have had the greatest impact, accounting for an estimated 69% of cases prevented through control tools.

Together with diagnosis and treatment, WHO recommends a package of proven prevention approaches, including insecticide treated nets, spraying indoor walls with insecticides, and preventive medicines for the most vulnerable groups: pregnant women, under-fives and infants.

“WHO-recommended tools have made a measurable difference in the global malaria fight,” said Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of WHO. “But we need a much bigger push for prevention – especially in Africa, which bears the greatest burden of malaria.”

WHO report: “Malaria prevention works: Let’s close the gap”

WHO’s latest report spotlights critical gaps in prevention coverage, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. An estimated 43% of people at risk of malaria in the region were not protected by either a net or indoor insecticide spraying in 2015. Approximately 69% of pregnant women in 20 African countries did not have access to the recommended 3 or more doses of preventive treatment.

Some targeted prevention approaches have been adopted by countries as policy, but the actual uptake has been slow. Preventive treatment for infants, for example, which is safe, cost-effective and well accepted by health workers and communities, is currently only being implemented in Sierra Leone.

Across the Sahel, where most malaria cases and deaths among children occur in the rainy season, WHO recommends seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC), a preventive therapy shown to reduce new cases of severe malaria in young children by approximately 75%. As of 2015, 10 countries – Burkina Faso, Chad, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo – had adopted WHO’s SMC policy and begun implementing it.

Global progress and disease burden

According to the World Malaria Report 2016, the rate of new malaria cases fell by 21% globally between 2010 and 2015. Malaria death rates fell by 29% in the same 5-year period. In sub-Saharan Africa, case incidence and death rates fell by 21% and 31%, respectively.

Other regions have made substantial gains in their malaria responses, but the disease remains a major public health threat. In 2015, the global tally of malaria reached 429 000 malaria deaths and 212 million new cases. One child died from malaria every 2 minutes.

“Any death from malaria – a preventable and treatable disease – is simply unacceptable,” said Dr Pedro Alonso, Director of WHO’s Global Malaria Programme. “Today we are urging countries and partners to accelerate the pace of action, especially in low-income countries with a high malaria burden.”

Ninety-one countries reported ongoing malaria transmission in 2015; all are working to reduce their malaria burden through the deployment and use of WHO-recommended preventive, diagnostic and treatment tools.

WHO’s global technical strategy for malaria, 2016-2030

In May 2015, the World Health Assembly approved WHO’s Global Technical Strategy for Malaria 2016–2030, a 15-year blueprint for all countries working to control and eliminate malaria. The strategy set ambitious targets for 2030, including reducing malaria case incidence and death rates by at least 90%, eliminating malaria in at least 35 countries, and preventing the reintroduction of malaria in all countries that are malaria free.

Interim 2020 targets call for 40% reductions in malaria case incidence and death rates and for the elimination of malaria in at least 10 countries. Less than half of the world’s 91 countries with malaria transmission are on track to achieve these interim targets for case incidence and mortality reductions.

However, prospects for achieving the 2020 elimination target are bright: WHO’s “Eliminating Malaria” report, published in 2016, identified 21 countries with the potential to achieve at least one year of zero indigenous cases of malaria by 2020.

In recent years, 7 countries have been certified by the WHO Director-General as having eliminated malaria: United Arab Emirates (2007), Morocco (2010), Turkmenistan (2010), Armenia (2011), Maldives (2015), Sri Lanka (2016) and Kyrgyzstan (2016). This certification is granted by WHO when countries achieve at least 3 consecutive years of zero locally-acquired cases of malaria.

Malaria elimination

In recent years, 7 countries have been certified by the WHO Director-General as having eliminated malaria: United Arab Emirates (2007), Morocco (2010), Turkmenistan (2010), Armenia (2011), Maldives (2015), Sri Lanka (2016) and Kyrgyzstan (2016). This certification is granted by WHO when countries achieve at least 3 consecutive years of zero locally-acquired cases of malaria.

In 2015, the WHO European Region achieved interruption of indigenous malaria transmission and was declared malaria-free the following year. The region has maintained this status since and countries at risk of malaria reintroduction are strengthening their efforts to protect their populations from the risk of re-exposure to malaria.

Harnessing Innovation

Future progress in the fight to prevent malaria will likely be shaped by technological advances and innovations in new tools, including new vector control interventions, and possibly a vaccine.

The WHO African Region will announce today the three countries that will take part in a WHO-coordinated malaria vaccine pilot programme in selected areas, beginning in 2018. The injectable vaccine, known as “RTS,S,” was developed to protect young children in Africa. It will be assessed in the pilots as a complementary malaria control tool that could potentially be added to the core package of WHO-recommended measures for malaria prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.

World Malaria Day falls in World Immunization Week 24-30 April which celebrates the widespread use of vaccines that protect people against 26 diseases. Overall, vaccines prevent an estimated 2-3 million deaths each year.

Reductions in malaria case incidence and deaths (2010-2015)

Source – WHO News Release