Malaria is a potentially deadly disease that affects nearly half of the world’s population. It is caused by a single-celled organism of the genus Plasmodium. It is transmitted to humans, and from one person to another, by the bite of infected mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles, from the Greek word meaning “useless”.
The Risk
3.2 billion people, roughly half the world’s population, are at risk of infection with malaria. 1.2 billion of these people are at high risk of contracting the disease. (World Malaria Report - 2015. World Health Organization)
The Deaths
In 2015, the most recent year for which global statistics are available, the World Health Organization estimates that there were 214 million cases. An estimated 438,000 people died from malaria.
The Burden
90% of those deaths are in Africa. 78% are children less than 5 years old. And people sick with Malaria miss work and school. Malaria kills hundreds of thousands of people and results in billions of dollars in lost productivity every year. The impact on lives and developing economies is enormous.
The Goal
But malaria is preventable and curable. And it can be eliminated. Elimination means interrupting local mosquito-borne malaria transmission, meaning zero incidence of locally contracted cases. Malaria was eliminated in most of Western Europe by the mid-1930s; the United States achieved elimination of the disease in 1951. The most recent additions are the United Arab Emirates (2007), Morocco (2010), Turkmenistan (2010) and Armenia (2011).
35 of the 97 countries with active transmission are pursuing elimination. Elimination is a realistic but challenging goal. It requires sustained commitment, resources, and large field programs over 8-10 years.
U.S. PRESIDENT'S MALARIA ELIMINATION PROGRAM INVESTMENT (us$ MILLIONS) BY YEAR
The Challenge
Global financing for malaria control increased from an estimated US$ 960 million in 2005 to US$ 2.5 billion in 2014. The U.S. President's Malaria Initiative has invested a total of nearly US$ 4.7 billion since 2006 in malaria control and elimination efforts worldwide.
These investments have contributed to a dramatic decline in the global malaria burden over 15 years. Target 6C of the 2000 Millennium Development Goals, halting and beginning to reverse the global incidence of malaria by 2015, has been achieved, but this achievement is at risk.
The Sustainable Development Goals adopted in September 2015 set out an ambitious and transformational vision for a world free of poverty, hunger, disease and want. Sustainable Development Goal 3.3 reaffirms the international goal of eliminating malaria:
By 2030, end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases and combat hepatitis, water-borne diseases and other communicable diseases.
Tragically, some countries have shifted resources to other health priorities, only to see malaria rebound. A study in 2012 (J M Cohen) reviewed 75 malaria resurgence events in 61 countries, from the 1930s through the 2000s. Almost all resurgence events (91%) were attributed at least in part to the weakening of malaria control programs for a variety of reasons, of which resource constraints were the most common (57%).
We have arrived at a pivotal moment. Global progress in malaria control over the last 15 years is nothing short of remarkable. Let us not lose momentum. Together, we can transform the health, well-being and livelihood of millions of people across the globe.
- Margaret Chan, Director-General, World Health Organization
Without effective surveillance and rapid response systems, malaria can rebound in a single rainy season. If it does, millions of dollars invested in control and elimination efforts have achieve nothing. Coconut Surveillance can help to detect and stop transmission quickly, and target limited intervention resources precisely.
.
