Secretary for Health Sam Mndolo has said the country is too far from being free from malaria as every year, the number of new malaria cases exceeds six million.

He said thousands of lives continue to be lost due to preventable and treatable diseases.

A healthcare worker jabs a child with
newly-introduced malaria vaccine

Mndolo said this in a statement released yesterday as Malawi joined the global community in commemorating World Malaria Day.

He said: “Worse still, the damage inflicted extends far beyond loss of life, malaria takes a heavy toll on our health systems, weakening productivity of citizens and reducing economic growth.

“Recognising this, the Malawi Government continues to invest in universal healthcare to ensure that all communities have access to the services they need.”

However, the PS said since the year 2000, Malawi has made huge investments resulting in incredible progress against malaria, ultimately saving thousands of lives.

Said Mndolo: “As we celebrate these gains, we applaud the selfless commitment from health workers and also recognise the generous support from implementing partners to end this deadly disease within our lifetimes.

“Worse still, the damage inflicted extends far beyond loss of life; malaria takes a heavy toll on our health systems, weakening productivity of citizens and reducing economic growth. Recognising this, the Malawi Government continues to invest in universal health care to ensure that all communities have access to the services they need.”

In 2021, under the mosqui to net mass distribution campaign, the government distributed more than 10 million treated bed nets to households across the country.

The ministry has further hailed the newly introduced malaria vaccine as a complementary strategy for accelerating the fight against malaria, particularly among children under the age of five and since 2019 when it was introduced, nearly 1.5 million children have been reached with at least one dose of vaccine in the 11 implementing districts in the country.

The theme for this year’s World Malaria Day is “Time to deliver zero malaria: Invest, innovate, Implement”.

In 2021, President Lazarus Chakwera launched the Zero Malaria Starts with Me Campaign aimed at eradicating malaria by 2030.

He descr ibed the disease as a threat which costs government a lot of resources, saying it accounts for 36 percent of out-patient cases and 15 percent of all hospital admissions in the country.

Malaria killed 2 500 Malawians in 2020, translating into six deaths per day while over 6.9 million suffered from the disease in the same period, making it the most prevalent disease in the country.

However, the World Health Organisation (WHO) indicates that despite recent setbacks in malaria control, investments in research and development played a crucial role in reducing the global burden of malaria over the last two decades.

It further said the development and massive roll-out of rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs), insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) and artemisin in-based combination therapies (ACTs) have been the backbone of the malaria response since 2000. WHO hopes that continued investment in the development and deployment of next-generation tools will be key to achieving the 2030 global malaria targets.

According to the latest World malaria report, published in December 2022, malaria claimed the lives of an estimated 619 000 people in 2021, compared to 625 000 in 2020. There were some 247 million new cases of malaria in 2021 compared to 245 million in 2020.

The WHO African Region continues to shoulder the heaviest burden of the disease accounting, in 2021, for an estimated 95 percent of all malaria cases (234 million) and 96 percent of all deaths (593 000). Nearly 80 percent of malaria deaths in the African Region were among children under the age of five.

Meanwhile, Malawi is also celebrating the World Immunisation week, set aside by WHO to highlight the collective action needed to protect people from vaccine-preventable diseases. The theme for this year is “The Big Catch-Up”.

The call is for countries to get back on track to ensure more people are protected from the preventable diseases.

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