World Malaria Report 2022:
The World Malaria Report 2022 was released by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Highlights of the Report:
- Deaths came down to 619,000 in 2021 from 625,000 in the first year of the pandemic, it remained higher than the pre-pandemic level of 568,000 deaths in 2019.
- As for Malaria cases, the upward trend continued but at a slower rate — 247 million cases in 2021, compared to 245 million cases in 2020 and 232 million in 2019.
- Among the 11 high-burden countries, five — the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, India, Niger and the United Republic of Tanzania — recorded a decline in deaths.
- But these countries continued to contribute heavily to the global disease burden.
- Insecticide-treated bednets (ITNs) are the key vector control tool used by endemic countries.
- Prevalence of Intermittent Preventive Treatment in Pregnancy (IPTP) has remained consistent in 2021 as compared to 2020.
- Hurdles impeding the process of ending Malaria include – mutating parasites which can evade rapid diagnostic tests, increasing drug resistance and the invasion of an urban-adapted mosquitoes, especially in Africa.
- New tools and fundings to deploy them are urgently needed to help defeat malaria.
