WHO is committed to eliminating malaria globally and in the South-East Asia Region. The Region has in recent years made remarkable progress against malaria, achieving the sharpest and most consistent reductions globally. Between 2010 and 2018 the Region reduced estimated cases and deaths by 69% and 70%, respectively. Maldives and Sri Lanka remain malaria-free; Bhutan is on the verge of elimination; and Timor-Leste has not reported a single case since July 2017. By 2018, India had reduced the number of reported cases from 2016 and 2017 by 49% and 60%, respectively, cementing its leadership among the world’s 11 high-burden countries. All countries in the Region are on track to have reduced malaria incidence by at least 40% from 2015 levels by year end.
On World Malaria Day 2020, we must continue to be bold and assert that “Zero malaria starts with me”. The theme of this year’s celebration emphasizes the critical need for us all to ensure malaria elimination remains high on the political agenda, and that adequate resources are mobilized and allocated to malaria programmes, especially as we combat COVID-19. The theme also highlights the contribution people from all walks of life can make to increase community awareness and empower each other to prevent, control and eliminate malaria. The Region’s 2017 Ministerial Declaration on Accelerating and Sustaining Malaria Elimination, which all countries have adopted, must continue to inform efforts to strengthen high-impact, country-led and owned approaches. We cannot afford for the Region’s focus to falter.
Previous disease outbreaks have shown that when health systems are overwhelmed, mortality from preventable and treatable conditions such as malaria can increase dramatically. During the 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, for example, the increase in the number of deaths caused by measles, malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis attributable to health system failures exceeded the number of deaths from Ebola. As Member States mobilize to meet the current crisis, we must vigorously protect and defend the Region’s progress against malaria and other preventable and treatable conditions. WHO will continue to support Member States in the Region to implement key guidelines on maintaining essential health services as they directly respond to COVID-19.
Among other priorities, we must ensure health workers are protected and affected communities are empowered to act. All people living in at-risk areas must have access to preventive measures such as long-lasting insecticidal mosquito nets and indoor residual spraying. They must also have access to services to diagnose and treat malaria, which will only function effectively if the health workers providing them have adequate personal protective equipment. By ensuring vector control measures are maintained, and that communities are encouraged to participate, health leaders will help reduce the strain on health systems while promoting lasting malaria control solutions. High-impact interventions needn’t be high cost.
Health leaders must maintain malaria surveillance, including via cross-border collaboration, and advance the research agenda. By working across borders, health authorities will be able to more efficiently respond to outbreaks in border areas, and better protect vulnerable populations that often inhabit those areas. By facilitating the research agenda, they can develop innovative diagnostics and treatments that will accelerate progress. Given that the Region is home to 53% of the global P. vivax burden, specific focus should be given to ensuring that treatment courses for vivax malaria are completed and that patient safety is protected. Surveillance and research on drug and insecticide resistance must continue to be strengthened.
Region-wide, advocacy aimed at promoting political commitment to eliminate malaria must stay strong, especially in high- and medium-burden countries, where subnational elimination is proving troublesome, and where malaria has, like many diseases before it, become a symbol of exclusion, neglect and marginalization. Wherever and whenever possible, civil society should be encouraged to make its voice as loud as possible to ensure malaria prevention, control and treatment is a political priority. We will only eliminate malaria through a whole-of-government, whole-of-society approach.
On World Malaria Day 2020, WHO reiterates its commitment to eliminating malaria globally and in the South-East Asia Region. Though the ongoing battle against COVID-19 provides distinct challenges to our goal, they are challenges that together we can overcome through strong planning and sustained commitment. We all have a role to play. We all have a difference to make. Achieving zero malaria starts with each person recognizing and acting on their ability to promote positive change in the lives of the most vulnerable. Forward, together towards zero malaria.