WHO warns that there is no progress in malaria deaths or that they increase due to the new crown

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, Nov. 30 (Reporter Shen Min) The World Health Organization warned on Nov. 30 that from 2016 to 2019, the number of people suffering from malaria and deaths from malaria in the world has not decreased. significantly. This year, the number of deaths from malaria may be due to the new crown. The epidemic occupies the resources of medical services and is increasing. In poverty-stricken areas of Africa, the number of deaths from malaria may even exceed the number of deaths from the new local crown.

The “World Malaria Report 2020” released by WHO on the same day showed that 229 million cases of malaria were reported worldwide in 2019, which has basically remained at the same level since 2016; the number of deaths fell rapidly and last year it was estimated that more than 409,000 people died of malaria. Compared to 411,000 in 2018, there is no significant change, most of whom are infants and young children in the poorest areas of Africa, and the new corona epidemic “almost certainly” raises the number this year.

Pedro Elsonso, director of the WHO Anti-Malaria Project, said at a press conference: “We estimate that depending on the degree of impact on medical services (due to the new crown) … the number of deaths from malaria in sub-Saharan Africa (This year) there may be 20,000 to 100,000 more, mostly young children. Those additional deaths from malaria are likely to exceed those caused directly by the new crown. “

The report said that many countries have worked hard to overcome the challenges posed by the new corona epidemic and control the increase in malaria cases, but “it is difficult to guarantee the achievement of the long-term goal of eliminating malaria in the world in a generation”.

Peter Sands, executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, said the WHO report is “extremely timely” because the global health and medical system, the media and politics are becoming currently focusing on the new corona epidemic and paying very little attention to malaria. “And I want to remind everyone that this is a disease that we know how to get rid of.”

Malaria is transmitted by mosquitoes and more than 90% of malaria cases are found in Africa. The leaders of African countries pledged in 2000 to cut malaria deaths by half within 10 years. So far, they have managed to reduce the number of deaths from malaria by 44% to 384,000 per year. However, with the reduction of investment funds, progress has not been evident in recent years. WHO urges countries to “strengthen targeted interventions, develop new tools and increase funding to change the trajectory of global malaria development.”