Once a leading cause of death and illness, malaria has been wiped out in half the world’s countries, experts say.
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The department has embarked on awareness and educational campaigns that include radio campaigns, community events, door to door campaigns and distribution of pamphlets at shopping centres before and during the World Malaria day.
In South Africa the elimination of malaria is a public health objective. But 3.2 billion people still live in areas that put them at risk for contracting malaria, and 214 million people contracted the disease in 2015.
The Geneva-based organisation said 21 countries are in a position to eliminate malaria within the next five years.
“The Global Technical Strategy for Malaria 2016-2030, approved by the World Health Assembly in 2015, calls for the elimination of local transmission of malaria in at least 10 countries by 2020.” a press release from WHO revealed.
Mosquitoes are developing resistance to insecticides used to treat bednets and for indoor spraying.
According to data from Rwanda’s health ministry, the East African nation registered about two million malaria cases previous year compared to 514,000 cases in 2012. If we sleep inside a treated net every night, if we seek treatment from a qualified health worker within 24 hours of the onset of a fever, we can drive down the presence of the malaria parasite in our environment and ultimately eliminate it. Travellers are encouraged to speak with a travel health professional prior to travelling to malaria endemic areas. Its goals are ambitious but achievable, including a reduction in malaria case incidence and mortality of at least 90 per cent by 2030.
Another eight countries each tallied fewer than 100 indigenous malaria cases in 2014.
Malaria cases are on the rise amongst travelers.
More than 60 resurgences of malaria have occurred since about 1930, failures he attributed to emboldened politicians and governments willing to cut budgets for fighting the disease.
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Malaria can be eventually eradicated through the combination and reinforcement of several strategies: widespread prevention methods, affordable and available testing and treatment; ongoing surveillance systems that track the disease distribution and trends; optimized response to outbreaks and subsequent monitoring; and continual research to develop an official and effective vaccine.
