Malaria made a comeback amid Covid-19 pandemic disruption, WHO says

The number of malaria cases and deaths in 2020 were at least 40 per cent higher than Word Health Organization targets

It’s another blow for Sub-Saharan Africa, which accounts for 95 per cent of cases globally. Most of the 400,000 malaria deaths a year are children under 5

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A municipal worker fumigates a market area as preventive measure against mosquito-born diseases in Siliguri, India. Photo: AFP

Published: 10:54pm, 6 Dec 2021Updated: 12:19am, 7 Dec 2021

The coronavirus pandemic has derailed the global campaign against malaria, increasing deaths from the mosquito-borne disease for the first time in three years.

The number of malaria cases and deaths in 2020 were at least 40 per cent higher than the Word Health Organization’s targets, according to the agency, which said its 2030 goals are now at risk.

“While African countries rallied to the challenge and averted the worst predictions of fallout from Covid-19, the pandemic’s knock-on effect still translates to thousands of lives lost to malaria,” Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO’s regional director for Africa, said in a statement.

“African governments and their partners need to intensify their efforts so that we do not lose even more ground to this preventable disease.”

A child reacts as she is screened for the malaria disease in South Sudan. Photo: Medecins Sans Frontieres/Handout via Reuters

It is a blow for Sub-Saharan Africa, which accounts for 95 per cent of malaria cases globally. The disease kills about 400,000 people a year, most of them children under the age of five.