The World Health Organisation (WHO) has disclosed that no less than 602,000 people died of malaria in Nigeria and other African countries in 2021.
Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO’s Regional Director for Africa, disclosed this on Monday in a message to mark this year’s World Malaria Day with the theme, “Harness innovation to reduce the malaria disease burden and save lives.”
She said malaria remains a significant public health and development challenge, adding that in the last year, about 95 per cent of the estimated 228 million cases occurred in the WHO/AFRO Region, along with 602,020 reported deaths.
Dr Moeti further revealed that Six countries, worst-impacted by malaria in the region, are reported to have accounted for up to 55 per cent of cases globally, and for 50 per cent of deaths.
The commemoration of the World Malaria Day is marked annually to focus the global attention on the disease and the devastating impact that it has on families, communities, and societal development, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Dr. Moeti said that the past year had seen some significant breakthroughs in the prevention and control of malaria despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Despite some slowing of progress to reduce malaria cases and deaths, and the disruptions to health services caused by COVID-19, we are still much further ahead than we were in 2000. We need to reignite that momentum and build on the recent advances. The ultimate goal is to reduce the number of people catching and dying from malaria. This requires a focus on research and on leveraging available evidence to ensure that our targeted interventions are an efficient use of resources, which produce measurable results.”
