WHO Warns Malaria Fight Flat-lining

Geneva, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Nov, 2020 ) :Progress in eliminating malaria has stalled in recent years, the World Health Organization said Monday, with more than 400,000 people once again estimated to have died from the disease last year.

In its World Malaria Report 2020, the WHO said progress against the mosquito-borne disease was plateauing, particularly in African countries bearing the brunt of cases and deaths.

In 2019, the global tally of malaria cases was estimated at 229 million -- a figure that has been at the same level for the past four years.

Meanwhile the once rapidly-falling death toll has effectively come to a standstill in the last two years.

After steadily tumbling down from 736,000 in 2000, the disease claimed an estimated 411,000 lives in 2018 and 409,000 in 2019.

"A better targeting of interventions, new tools and increased funding are needed to change the global trajectory of the disease and reach internationally-agreed targets," the WHO said.

The UN health agency said a funding shortfall posed a "significant threat", with only $3 billion of a $5.6 billion target raised in 2019.

"Funding shortages have led to critical gaps in access to proven malaria control tools," it said.

Rather than a uniform approach, countries have recently begun to adopt tailored responses based on local data and intelligence, in order to try to keep up the pressure on malaria.

More than 90 percent of the disease burden is in Africa. The continent accounted for an estimated 384,000 malaria deaths last year.

"It is time for leaders across Africa -- and the world -- to rise once again to the challenge of malaria," said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.