APRIL 25, 2022 IS WORLD MALARIA DAY

 APRIL 25 IS WORLD MALARIA DAY.

From the Ministry of Health in Uganda.

April 25, 2022 is World Malaria Day. It is an annual event to raise awareness and advocate for more resources for the fight against Malaria. 

The theme is: “Domesticating the Fight against Malaria”

Slogan: “Prevent the bite”

Malaria is preventable. Stick to the simple doable action - Sleep under a treated mosquito net every night.

WHO ON MALARIA DAY 2022

Theme: “Harness innovation to reduce the malaria disease burden and save lives”.

World Malaria Day 2022 will be marked under the theme “Harness innovation to reduce the malaria disease burden and save lives.” No single tool that is available today will solve the problem of malaria. WHO is calling for investments and innovation that bring new vector control approaches, diagnostics, antimalarial medicines and other tools to speed the pace of progress against malaria.

Despite steady advances in lowering the global burden of malaria between 2000 and 2015, progress has slowed or stalled in recent years, particularly in high burden countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Urgent and concerted action is needed to set the world back on a trajectory toward achieving the 2030 targets of the WHO global malaria strategy.

Malaria is a preventable and treatable disease that continues to have a devastating impact on the health and livelihood of people around the world. In 2020, there were an estimated 241 million new cases of malaria and 627 000 malaria-related deaths in 85 countries. More than two thirds of deaths were among children under the age of 5 living in the WHO African Region.

RTS, S MALARIA VACCINE.

In October 2021, WHO recommended the broad use of the RTS,S malaria vaccine for young children living in areas with moderate and high malaria transmission. The recommendation was informed by results from an ongoing WHO-coordinated pilot programme in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi that has reached more than 900 000 children since 2019. Evidence and experience from the programme has shown that the vaccine is safe, feasible to deliver and reduces deadly severe malaria. RTS,S is an example of innovation at work and a scientific breakthrough – it is the first vaccine recommended for use against a human parasitic disease of any kind.