GENEVA, April 25 — The World Health Organisation (WHO) today launched a new guide to help countries move towards malaria elimination on the occasion of World Malaria Day, Xinhua news agency reported.
The guide provides countries with a comprehensive framework to assess various scenarios and timelines for eliminating malaria depending on programme coverage and funding availability.
“Increased political commitment and the expansion of global malaria investments have saved some 3.3 million lives since 2000,” Margaret Chan, WHO director-general, said in a statement.
Statistics showed malaria mortality rate around the world and in the African region has fallen 42 per cent and 49 per cent respectively since 2000.
However, WHO said as many as 207 million cases of malaria that caused 600,000 deaths were reported in 2012.
WHO said although many countries have the political will to combat the disease, technical, operational and financial obstacles have continued to pose challenge to countries and regions with a high disease burden.
The new guide will help countries assess what resources they need to reduce malaria transmission to very low levels, and provide them with essential knowledge for long-term strategic planning for malaria programmes. — Bernama
