El Salvador American country Declared Malaria-Free:
El Salvador has become the first country in Central America and the third in all Americas to get the malaria-free certificate from the World Health Organization (WHO) in recent years.
- A malaria elimination certificate is awarded to a country when the chain of indigenous transmission of the disease has been disrupted nationwide for at least three consecutive years.
- The only other countries in the WHO Regions of Americas to have eliminated malaria in recent years are Paraguay (2018) and Argentina (2019).
- Initiated by WHO in 11 high malaria burden countries, including India.
- In India, Implementation has been started in four states i.e. West Bengal and Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh.
About Malaria:
- Caused by a parasite that commonly infects a certain type of mosquito which feeds on humans.
- Spread: Female Anopheles mosquitoes deposit parasite sporozoites into the skin of a human host.
