WHO: 95% of 241m Global Malaria Cases Found in Africa

* Says $10.3bn needed to fight scourge by 2030

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

At least 95 per cent of all the 241 million malaria cases recorded in 2020 and 96 per cent of deaths during the year under review were from sub-Saharan Africa, a new report by the World Health Organisation (WHO), has revealed.

The new data released by the United Nations (UN) agency, disclosed that the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted malaria services, leading to a marked increase in cases and deaths.

According to the “World Malaria Report, 2021,” aside the estimated 241 million malaria cases, there were 627,000 malaria deaths worldwide in 2020, representing about 14 million more cases in 2020 compared to 2019, and 69,000 more deaths.

The WHO document noted that two-thirds of the additional deaths, that is 47,000, were linked to disruptions in the provision of malaria prevention, diagnosis and treatment during the pandemic.

However, it explained that the situation could have been far worse as it had earlier projected that with severe service disruptions, malaria deaths in sub-Saharan Africa could potentially double in 2020.

“Sub-Saharan Africa continues to carry the heaviest malaria burden, accounting for about 95 per cent of all malaria cases and 96 per cent of all deaths in 2020. About 80 per cent of deaths in the region are among children under five years of age,” it stated.

It pointed out that the pandemic struck at a point when global progress against malaria had already plateaued, stressing that by around 2017, there were signs that the gains made since 2000, including a 27 per cent reduction in global malaria cases and a nearly 51 per cent reduction in the malaria mortality rate were stalling.

The WHO document added that for the 11 countries that carry the highest burden of malaria worldwide, cases increased from 150 million in 2015 to 163 million cases in 2020, and malaria deaths increased from 390,000 to 444,600 over that same period.

“To get back on track, WHO and its partners recognise the need to ensure better and more equitable access to all health services, including malaria prevention, diagnosis and treatment, by strengthening primary health care and stepping up both domestic and international investments,” the document added.

But it noted that despite the challenges imposed by Covid-19, about three-quarters (72 per cent) of insecticide-treated mosquito nets had been distributed in malaria-endemic countries as planned by the end of 2020.

It stated that 13 countries in Africa’s Sahel sub-region reached 11.8 million more children with preventive antimalarial medicines during the high-transmission rainy season in 2020 compared to 2019.

“While African countries rallied to the challenge and averted the worst predictions of fallout from Covid-19, the pandemic’s knock-on effect still translates to thousands of lives lost to malaria,” WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti said.

“African governments and their partners need to intensify their efforts so that we do not lose even more ground to this preventable disease,” the WHO official stated.

According to the report, progress towards the 2020 milestones of WHO’s global malaria strategy was substantially off track.

It noted that in 2020, the global malaria case incidence rate was 59 cases per 1,000 people at risk against a target of 35, putting it off track by 40 per cent.

“The global mortality rate was 15.3 deaths per 100,000 people at risk against a target of 8.9, putting it off track by 42 per cent,” the organisation stated.

It further stated that reaching the 2030 goals of the WHO malaria strategy, including a 90 per cent reduction in global malaria incidence and mortality rates by 2030, would require new approaches, new tools and the better implementation of existing ones.

Meeting global targets would also require robust funding, the agency observed, pointing out that current funding levels, estimated at $3.3 billion in 2020, would need to more than triple, reaching $ 10.3 billion per year by 2030.

This year’s report, the organisation stated, applied a new WHO-wide statistical method to estimate the cause of death among children under five years of age for all major diseases, including malaria.

“The methodology was applied to 32 countries in sub-Saharan Africa that shoulder about 93 per cent of all malaria deaths globally. Doing so revealed higher numbers of estimated deaths among young children every year since 2000.

“Even after applying the new methodology, the malaria death rate maintained an overall downward trend since 2000; globally, the malaria mortality rate (deaths per 100,000 population at risk) fell by 49 per cent between 2000 and 2020.

“ Between 2019 and 2020, the death rate increased for the first time since 2000 as a result of disruptions during the Covid-19 pandemic,” the global agency noted.