$66bn required to eliminate malaria in Africa

An estimated $66bn is required to eliminate Malaria from Africa by 2030, the World Health Organisation has said.
The UN health agency in a statement yesterday said though the number of malaria cases and deaths within Africa had declined, the continent still accounted for more than 90 per cent of global malaria deaths in 2015.

“Between 2000 and 2015, the number of malaria cases and deaths within Africa declined by 42 per cent and 66 per cent respectively. However, Africa still bears the biggest malaria burden with roughly 190 million cases and 400,000 deaths in 2015 alone, accounting for 89 per cent and 91 per cent of the world’s total respectively,” it said.
The WHO listed weak health systems, gaps in access to available prevention methods, limited number of interventions available and increasing resistance to medicines and insecticides as some of the main challenges.

However, member states in the region have adopted a new framework on implementing a strategy towards a malaria-free continent, it noted.
In an annual meeting of WHO regional commission in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, all 47 African member states unanimously adopted the new framework on how to implement the Global Technical Strategy for malaria in the region.

It proposes specific priority interventions and actions to be implemented by member states to reach “an African region free of malaria.”
“Malaria is no longer the leading cause of death among children in sub-Saharan Africa,” the statement quoted WHO Regional Director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, as saying.

“We have made substantial progress in controlling malaria within our region. Since 2000,
malaria death rates have plunged by 66 per cent, translating into 6.2 million lives saved, the vast majority of them being children.
“In 2015, two in three households in Africa did have their own insecticide-treated mosquito nets, compared to only 2 per cent back in 2000. More and more children get to sleep under a net, and we need to continue to invest in changing people’s behaviours,” said Moeti.