WHO calls the world to be ready to defeat malaria
Today, on 25 April, the international community led by the World Health Organization celebrates the World Malaria Day. This year's theme is “Ready to beat malaria”. The slogan expresses the urgent need for a global alliance of all malaria fighters for the common goal of ridding the world of this terrible infectious disease, which takes the life of one child every two minutes. WHO recognizes that the world's efforts to eradicate the oldest human disease are at a crossroads. After a period of unprecedented success in curbing the disease, progress has stalled. The current pace of work in this area is not sufficient to meet the targets of the WHO Global Technical Strategy for Malaria 2016-2030. Particularly, the document provides for 90% reduction in malaria morbidity and mortality and the total elimination of malaria in 35 countries. According to the available data, in 2016, in the world of recorded 216 million cases of malaria in 91 countries, which is higher year by 5 million compared to 2015. The death rate from "swamp fever" reached 445 thousand. Africa carries 90% of global malaria burden. To prevent a rollback, WHO calls for increasing the investments and expanding the use of malaria prevention measures. This call has already found response by the international community. At the recent Malaria Summit in London, 53 members of the Commonwealth pledged to invest more than US $ 4 billion for financing the research activity and improving access to prevention and treatment of disease. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which is co-chaired by renowned philanthropist Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, voiced the commitments worth of US $ 1 billion for anti-malaria campaign by 2023. WHO officially declared malaria-free status of Turkmenistan in 2010. The achievement became possible due to the implementation of a number of strategic plans and programmes by the public health system. Turkmenistan, which has gained real results in the eradication of malaria, is an example for the entire Central Asian region. The country's experience is also recommended for application in countries of WHO European region. Last year, 9 countries, along with Turkmenistan - Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan - confirmed their commitment to make all required efforts for maintaining their malaria-free status by signing the Ashgabat Declaration “Preventing the re-establishment of malaria transmission in the WHO European Region”. WHO considers this document as a platform for planning, implementing and monitoring activities to prevent the external penetration of malaria into the region.
