Progress in the fight against malaria has stalled in recent years, the World Health Organization warned on Monday, and some 400,000 people died from the disease again last year.
The WHO stresses that this plateau is particularly notable in Africa, the continent which has the most cases of the disease transmitted by female mosquitoes and the highest number of deaths, according to the report that the UN agency devotes to this scourge each year. year.
In 2019, the number of new infections was around 229 million people, a number that has been relatively stable over the past four years.
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After significant progress that saw the death toll drop from 736,000 in 2000 to 411,000 in 2018 and 409,000 in 2019, WHO notes that
“better targeting of interventions, new tools and more funds is
needed
to change the global trajectory of the disease and achieve common goals and internationally agreed ”
.
As in many other areas, the agency notes that only half of the funds hoped for, around $ 3 billion of the $ 5.6 billion targeted, were raised in 2019.
“The lack of funds is causing shortages in l 'access to tools to fight against malaria which have proved their worth "
, insists the WHO and stresses that this poses
" a significant danger "
.
The Covid not involved
Rather than a one-size-fits-all approach, affected countries have started to implement more targeted actions based on local data in an attempt to combat the disease.
With some 94% of the total number of deaths (384,000 deaths from malaria on the African continent last year),
“it's time for leaders across Africa - and the rest of the world - to mobilize a once again to tackle the challenge of malaria, ”
asked WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
"By acting together and pledging to leave no one behind, we can achieve our common goal of eradicating malaria from the world,"
he added.
In 2019, four countries concentrated almost half of all cases worldwide: Nigeria (27%), Democratic Republic of the Congo (12%), Uganda (5%) and Mozambique 4%.
Unlike other campaigns, the WHO believes that prevention campaigns against malaria have not been slowed down by the Covid-19 pandemic for the time being, but the agency judges that
"the Covid-19 threatens to further derail our efforts to defeat malaria, and in particular to treat the sick, ”
said Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa.
“Despite the devastating impact of Covid-19 on African economies, international partners and countries must do more to ensure that the necessary resources are available to develop the anti-malaria programs that are making such a difference in the people's lives
, ”she added.
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Even small disruptions in access to medicines, on the order of 10%, would result in 19,000 additional deaths, the WHO calculated.
The report pointed out that since 2000, 21 countries had successfully eradicated malaria.
India has shown spectacular results in the past two years with an 18% drop in infections and a 20% drop in deaths.
Even more impressive, the progress of the six countries watered by the Mekong in Southeast Asia, which are on track to reach their goal of eradicating the disease by 2030. They have succeeded in bringing down the number of cases of the disease. 90% between 2000 and 2019.
