Frightening report from WHO: 249 million cases were seen

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that approximately 249 million malaria cases will be detected worldwide in 2022.

by WHO “2023 World “Malaria Report” was announced. Despite progress to help prevent malaria in children and pregnant women and steps to expand access to medicines, more people are getting malaria, the report said.

The report stated that approximately 249 million people worldwide were infected with malaria in 2022. “This number exceeded the pre-pandemic level of 233 million in 2019, with 16 million cases. “As well as the disruptions caused by Covid-19, the fight against malaria globally also faces a growing number of threats such as drug resistance, humanitarian crises, resource constraints, the effects of climate change and delays in program implementation in countries with high disease burdens.” expressions were used.

The report noted that extreme weather events such as heat waves and floods can also directly affect transmission and disease burden, and underlined that the floods in Pakistan in 2022 caused a five-fold increase in malaria cases in the country.

“2.6 MILLION CASES WERE OBSERVED IN PAKISTAN”

The report emphasized that the Covid-19 epidemic significantly disrupted malaria services and stated that the pandemic process negatively affected the fight against the disease by causing an increase in both case and death rates.

The report mentioned that there will be 5 million additional malaria cases worldwide in 2022 compared to the previous year, and the largest increases are in Pakistan, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea and Uganda.

It was stated in the report that 500 thousand malaria cases were seen in Pakistan in 2021 and this figure increased to 2.6 million in 2022.

Reminding that the new infection and death rates in the 11 countries with the highest rates of malaria cases stabilized after the first rise in the first year of the epidemic, the report noted that there will be an estimated 167 million malaria cases and 426 thousand related deaths in these countries in 2022.

In the report, the phased rollout of the first malaria vaccine RTS,S recommended by WHO in three African countries was also evaluated as “successful”.

“THE THREAT OF CLIMATE CHANGE SHOULD NOT BE IGNORED”

The report also recalls that WHO recommended a second vaccine called R21/Matrix-M to prevent the disease in children at risk of malaria in October, adding: “The availability of two malaria vaccines is expected to increase supply and enable large-scale distribution across Africa.” expressions were used.

“Progress has been made towards malaria elimination in many countries where the disease burden is low,” the report said. In 2022, 34 countries reported fewer than 1,000 malaria cases, compared to only 13 in 2000. Just this year Azerbaijan, Belize and Tajikistan have been certified malaria-free by WHO.” statements were included.

The report emphasized that there is a need for an important turning point in the fight against malaria with increased resources, strengthened political determination, data-based strategies and innovative tools, and stated that the added threat of climate change should not be ignored in the fight against malaria.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, whose views are included in the report, noted that changing climate conditions pose a significant risk to progress in the fight against malaria, especially in sensitive regions.

“Sustainable and resilient anti-malarial interventions are needed now more than ever, along with urgent actions to slow the pace and mitigate the effects of global warming,” Ghebreyesus said. he said. (AA)