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World leaders have marked World Malaria Day on Saturday, April 25 amid fears that focusing on the coronavirus pandemic could slow progress on the mosquito-borne disease, especially in Africa.
This year, the fight against malaria is a top political priority, and experts caution that efforts to contain Covid-19 could divert attention from malaria control and fuel yet another fatal outbreak.
There appear to be signs of this in Zimbabwe, where malaria has so far claimed the lives of at least 152 people. It is a reminder of the threat mosquito-borne disease still poses, which kills a child every two minutes.
Harare authorities said on Friday that malaria cases had increased by almost 50 percent, while only 29 cases of coronavirus and four deaths have been reported so far.
In Kenya, President Uluru Kenyatta urged world leaders not to lose track of the collective war against other diseases that may have a more deadly cost.
“World Malaria Day gives us an opportunity to reflect on the progress we have made in the fight against malaria, even as we continue to implement interventions to end the disease in Africa by 2030,” he said in a speech to the nation on Saturday.
Great assassin
Malaria remains the leading cause of death in sub-Saharan Africa, accounting for 93 percent of global cases, according to the non-profit group Africa Check.
A new report released by the World Health Organization predicts that malaria deaths on the continent can jump from a projected 386,000 to 769,000 as the coronavirus disrupts campaigns to combat it.
“We must not turn back time,” said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, when officials warned that the fight against malaria could be delayed by 20 years.
“We saw with the outbreak of the Ebola virus disease in West Africa that we lost more people to malaria than the Ebola outbreak. Let’s not repeat that with Covid-19 ”, added Moeti.
The two diseases have similar symptoms, such as fever, chills, headache, and joint pain, raising concerns that some cases of malaria are not recognized.
Organize donor support
“Those who need help the most refuse to go to health clinics out of fear or because they cannot because of the closings there,” Dr. Corine Karema, a member of the Alliance of African Malaria Leaders, told RFI.
While Covid-19 has become a global pandemic, now estimated to have killed nearly 200,000 people, the World Health Organization has called for double efforts to control malaria.
He wants more research and development, stronger political leadership and funding, more cross-border cooperation, and more policies geared to local conditions.
Finding the money can be difficult. Donors pledged only half of the recommended $ 5 billion per year for malaria programs in 2018, long before the coronavirus outbreak. Now, with the reduction of government budgets, further reductions are likely to follow.
Ironically, while the coronavirus is dwarfing malaria, the long-lasting malaria treatment, chloroquine, has been touted as a potential vaccine for pneumonia-like illness, although most specialists are skeptical.
It is also feared that a chloroquine vaccine for Covid-19 may create shortages for malaria patients.
