Anjali Sharma
GG News Bureau
UNITED NATIONS, 26th April. The World Health agency on Tuesday issued a call to action to increase implementation of new and existing interventions to save lives, including its pilot vaccine programme in Africa on the occasion of World Malaria Day.
WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said “We have the tools to drive down malaria, a package of interventions that includes vector control, preventive medicines, testing, and treatment,”
“Time to deliver zero malaria: invest, innovate, implement” WHO call to action encompasses preventing, diagnosing, and treating malaria, particularly among marginalized populations.
According to the latest WHO World Malaria Report, published in December, there were an estimated 247 million new cases of malaria in 2021.
WHO reported that 1.5 million children at high risk of illness and death from malaria in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi have received their first dose of the first ever malaria vaccine as part of an ongoing WHO coordinated pilot programme.
WHO African region accounted for 95 per cent of all cases and 96 per cent of all deaths in 2021, the agency said.
It stated 80 per cent of malaria deaths were among children under the age of five.
The malaria vaccine pilots are increasing equity in access to prevention tools for the most vulnerable. WHO said they are already saving lives.
It estimates that every year the vaccines could save tens of thousands of lives, if implemented.
Tedros said “These are joined by a safe and effective malaria vaccine, which could save the lives of tens of thousands children every year,”.
“With sustained investment and scaled-up efforts to reach those most at risk, malaria elimination in many countries is in reach.”
Countries have made some progress in expanding access to malaria services for most-at-risk populations. Despite some progress, many people at high risk of malaria still lack access to services that can prevent, detect, and treat the disease, most commonly spread by mosquito bites.
The agency said challenges in expanding access to malaria services have been compounded, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, by the COVID-19 pandemic, converging humanitarian crises, restricted funding, weak surveillance systems, and declines in the effectiveness of core malaria-fighting tools.
WHO published a series of new tools: a strategy to contain antimalarial drug resistance in Africa; and a framework, developed jointly by WHO and UN-Habitat to guide city leaders in urban malaria control to address these threats and support countries in building more resilient malaria programmes,.
WHO said that investment in the development and deployment of new vaccines and next-generation tools will be key to achieving the 2030 global malaria targets.
The agency said that a second malaria vaccine, if approved, could help close the sizable gap between supply and demand and further reduce child illness and death from malaria.
It added that 28 new products in the research and development pipeline include such innovative tools as new types of insecticide-treated nets, targeted baits that attract mosquitoes, and genetic engineering of mosquitoes.
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