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The World Health Organisation (WHO) has called on African leaders to increase their investment in health as part of efforts to rapidly reduce the burden of malaria and save the lives of its populations.
WHO Country Representative in Nigeria, Walter Mulombo, made the appeal at a media roundtable to commemorate the 2023 World Malaria Day (WMD) in Abuja on Tuesday.
Mr Mulombo said malaria intervention like any other health intervention should not be seen as a burden for the government or partners but as an enabling factor for social economic development.
He said the government is responsible for increasing funding for malaria intervention through primary healthcare approaches so that malaria services are accessed by the most vulnerable.
He said to achieve a malaria free region, governments need to mobilise more resources and technical capacities at domestic and international levels and build effective partnerships and multisectoral mechanisms.
This, he said will strengthen preventive measures and improve coverage of malaria case management services.
Mr Mulombo said although there have been improvements in health budget, more is needed to eradicate malaria from the region.
He said: “While congratulating our member states and development partners for achievements over the last year, we are greatly concerned that malaria deaths remain unacceptably high, and cases have continued to increase since 2015.
“To reverse these trends and accelerate progress, we must rethink and revitalise our strategies by investing, innovating and implementing smartly”.
Malaria
Malaria, although preventable and treatable, continues to have a devastating impact on the health and livelihood of people around the world.
In 2020, there were estimated 241 million new cases of malaria and 627,000 malaria-related deaths in 85 countries. More than two-thirds of deaths were among children under the age of five living in the African region.
In a message to commemorate the day, WHO Regional Director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti said the disease killed 619,000 people in 2021, of which approximately 96 per cent lived in Africa.
Ms Moeti said Malaria has been a stubborn public health enemy which is 6-20 times more likely to spread in mosquito-prone environments than the Omicron variant of Sars-cov-2.
She said the disease was once endemic across most of the world, sweeping through the Americas in the 1600s and reaching as far north as the Arctic coast and east as Japan.
“But we can now save millions of lives each year from sickness and death caused by malaria following novel progress toward the disease’s elimination,” she said.
World Malaria Day
WMD is marked on April 25 every year to highlight global efforts to control malaria and celebrate the gains that have been made.
Themed: “Time to Deliver Zero Malaria: Invest, Innovate, Implement”, this year’s activities aim to raise awareness of the need to implement the tools and strategies to prevent the disease.
Ms Moeti said today marks the 16th WMD and an appropriate time to take stock of malaria’s devastating impacts on people’s lives and economic development in the African region.
She said concerted efforts to eradicate the disease will yield positive results, noting that in 2021, because of the joint actions by malaria-affected countries and partners, malaria deaths decreased compared to 2020 despite the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.
She said that effort is further echoed in this year’s theme.
Malaria vaccine
Ms Moeti noted that the first malaria vaccine recommended by WHO to prevent malaria in children (also known as RTS,S) is saving lives.
She said in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi, where nearly 1.5 million children have received the vaccine through a WHO-coordinated pilot programme, there is a substantial decrease in hospitalisations for severe malaria and a drop in child deaths.
She also said at least 28 countries in Africa have expressed interest in introducing the vaccine, with some additional countries to start in early 2024.
“The unprecedented demand for the first malaria vaccine is considered an opportunity to bring children back to clinics to catch up on missed vaccines and child health interventions – including reinforcing the need for children to sleep under ITNs every night,” she said.
“It is critically important to deliver this vaccine to children at risk: WHO, Gavi, UNICEF, and other partners are working to increase supply as rapidly as possible to protect more vulnerable children and save more lives.”
Increased budget
Mr Mulombo, the Country Representative, said a large proportion of a country’s budget should go to health needs of the people, especially at the primary health care level.
“As I said before it’s not just about improving the budget, it’s about making sure the budget is released and when the budget is released, it is making sure that 80 per cent of it goes to the primary care level where 80 per cent of the communities get first contact with health care services,” he said.
READ ALSO: Hope for millions as Nigeria approves malaria vaccine
He noted that the WMD gives an opportunity to renew political commitments and bolster investments in malaria prevention and control.
He calls on each member state to redouble its commitment to implement an ambitious and innovative acceleration plan to rapidly reduce the burden of malaria and save the lives of its populations.
This, he said can be done by ensuring that everyone, everywhere, has access to the quality and affordable malaria services they need.
“This will require a more granular understanding of who is missing out, why they are vulnerable, and what are their barriers to accessing malaria preventive and treatment services,” he said.
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