Malaria control is 'Best in Decades': WHO

Malaria control 'best in decades': WHO

Current strategies are working, health organization says

Last Updated: Tuesday, December 14, 2010 | 12:06 PM ET Comments8Recommend6

CBC News

A mother sits with her daughter, who has malaria, in hospital in Robertsport, Liberia. (WHO/Benoist Carpentier)

Scaling up malaria control programs since 2008 has helped to protect more than 578 million people in sub-Saharan Africa, the World Health Organization says.

World Malaria Report 2010 describes progress in expanding access to insecticide-treated mosquito nets, indoor spraying and anti-malarial medications.

Last year, WHO director general Dr. Margaret Chan certified Morocco and Turkmenistan as having eliminated malaria, the report noted.

"The results set out in this report are the best seen in decades," Chan said in a statement. "After so many years of deterioration and stagnation in the malaria situation, countries and their development partners are now on the offensive. Current strategies work."

In Africa, 11 countries showed a drop of 50 per cent in either confirmed malaria cases or malaria admissions and deaths over the past decade, according to the report.

Outside Africa, a decrease of more than 50 per cent in the number of confirmed cases of malaria was also found in 32 of the 56 malaria-endemic countries during this same period.

Resurgences were seen in Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, and Zambia. The reasons are unknown but show the need to maintain coverage even when cases fall, WHO said.

The number of deaths as a result of malaria is estimated to have decreased from 985,000 in 2000 to 781,000 in 2009.

The United Nations aims to end malaria deaths by 2015.

Malaria is treatable if caught early but is especially deadly in children under five, who make up most of its victims.

Scientists are working on different strategies to fight malaria. A potential vaccine is being tested but is only about 50 per cent effective.

Earlier this year, WHO recommended that all suspected cases of malaria be confirmed by fast, inexpensive diagnostic tests before giving antimalarial drugs to keep resistance to combination therapies at bay.

Funding for malaria control appears to have levelled off this year at an estimated at $1.8 billion US a year, compared with the estimated more than $6 billion US needed to fully control malaria, WHO said.

With files from The Associated Press

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2010/12/14/malaria-who-africa.html#ixzz187MsIVnn