World Malaria Day 2022 - Theme, History & Significance

Table of Contents

Every year on April 25, World Malaria Day is observed to highlight the need for continued investment and sustained political commitment to preventing and controlling malaria across the globe.
Theme of World Malaria Day 2022:
“Harness innovation to reduce the malaria disease burden and save lives”.

Recent Findings

As per WHO, the year 2020 witnessed around 241 million new cases of malaria and 627,000 malaria-related fatalities in 85 nations. Not only this but in the African region, over two-thirds of the fatalities were reported among children below 5 years old.
And this data proves that despite achieving steady advances in the global burden of malaria from 2000 to 2015, recent years have reported slow progress, especially in high burden countries of Sub-Saharan Africa.

Background

Diving deep into the history of World Malaria Day, in 2007 the WHO generated the idea from Africa Malaria Day, which is an event that the African government has been observing against the disease since 2001.
At the 60th session of the World Health Assembly, which was sponsored by WHO, it was proposed that Africa Malaria day be changed to World Malaria Day.

What is Malaria and how is it caused?

Malaria is a mosquito-borne disease caused by a parasite. If it is left untreated, it may develop severe complications and die.
According to the WHO, it is an acute febrile illness. It is caused by Plasmodium parasites, which are spread to people through the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes.
Five species of parasites cause malaria in humans, and of those, two species, namely falciparum and P. vivax, pose the greatest threat.
The deadliest malarial parasite is P. falciparum, which is the most prevalent on the African continent. The dominant malaria parasite in most countries outside of sub-Saharan Africa is P. Vivax.

Those countries that have achieved at least 3 consecutive years of zero indigenous cases are eligible to apply for a WHO certification of malaria-free status.
However, there are some countries who have been able to successfully eradicate Malaria.

The WHO has granted malaria-free certification to 40 countries and territories globally.
Of these, China (2021) is the latest country which was declared malaria free by the WHO.
Other recent countries to join the malaria-free club are El Salvador (2021), Argentina (2019), Paraguay (2018), and Uzbekistan (2018), Sri Lanka (2016).
In India, no state so far has been able to completely eliminate Malaria.
In 2019, India accounted for 88 per cent of malaria cases and 86 percent of deaths due to malaria in the WHO South-East Asia region.
It is also the only country outside Africa which is among the 11 ‘high burden to high impact’ countries.
India is now on the road to reach zero malaria cases by the year 2030.
It is a signatory to the National Framework for Malaria Elimination (NFME) and has been making efforts to achieve the goal.
By taking adequate measures, India was able to reduce the number of malaria cases by 60 per cent as compared to 2017 and recorded 46 per cent reduction as compared to 2018.
Odisha is one of the states that is moving closer to achieving the malaria-free goal.
The state government had announced last year that it recorded a 90 per cent reduction in malaria cases in the last three years.

RTS,S/ASO1 (RTS.S), trade name Mosquirix is the first vaccine shown to have the capability of significantly reducing malaria, and life-threatening severe malaria, in tests on young African children.
The vaccine acts against P. falciparum, the most deadly malaria parasite globally, and the most prevalent in Africa.

Among children who received 4 doses in largescale clinical trials, the vaccine was able to prevent approximately 4 in 10 cases of malaria over a 4-year period.
This is the first malaria vaccine that has completed the clinical development process, and received a positive scientific opinion from the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
- It is also the first malaria vaccine to be introduced by three national ministries of health through their childhood immunization programmes — more than 800,000 children in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi have been vaccinated, and are benefiting from the added protection provided by the vaccine as part of a pilot programme.

Other Diseases Spread by Mosquitoes

Zika

For most folks, the symptoms from this virus are mild: just a fever, rash, joint pain, and red eyes.
The real danger may be to pregnant women and their babies. It’s linked to a birth defect called microcephaly, which causes small heads and brain damage.
Mosquitoes spread this disease in many parts of the world including Brazil and other countries in South and Central America, the Caribbean, and Southeast Asia.

Chikungunya

The name comes from an African language and refers to the stooped appearance people may have because of severe joint pain.
The disease is found in Asia and India, and it’s started to move into Europe and the Americas.
There’s no cure, but most people recover. In some cases, symptoms can last months or years.

Rift Valley Fever

Infected mosquitoes can give this disease to people and animals.
It’s named for an area in Kenya where doctors discovered it, and it’s common in parts of Africa.
People also get it in Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Symptoms include dizziness and weakness. It can also damage your eyes.

West Nile Virus

This dangerous disease is spread via infected mosquitoes.
From the bite of an infected Culex mosquito, the virus spreads from birds to humans.
This can lead to lethal neurological diseases in humans.
It is originally originated from Africa, the virus has spread in Europe, Asia and North America.

Question:
Diseases that spread from one person to another are called _______.
(a) Communicable diseases
(b) Degenerative diseases
(c) Non-communicable diseases
(d) None of the above