THE World Health Organization (WHO) has bemoaned the alarming disparities in access to quality malaria treatment, particularly in low-income countries.
It said millions lacked access to life-saving treatments, perpetuating a cycle of suffering and death.
In key messages to commemorate the 2024 World Malaria Day (WMD), the global health body said progress in reducing malaria had stalled in recent years.
The commemoration had the theme, “Time to deliver zero malaria: invest, innovate, implement”.
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The WHO said not only did malaria continue to endanger health and cost lives directly, but it also perpetuated a vicious cycle of inequity, impacting vulnerable groups like pregnant women, infants, children under five, refugees, migrants, internally displaced people, and indigenous peoples.
“The WHO African Region shoulders the heaviest burden of the disease – accounting, in 2022, for 94 per cent and 95 per cent of malaria cases and deaths. Rural populations in the African region living in situations of poverty and with less access to education are the most impacted. In view of the current trajectory, critical 2025 milestones of the WHO global malaria strategy for reductions in malaria cases and deaths will be missed.
“Why are pregnant women, young children and other groups in vulnerable situations not accessing the malaria services they need? On World Malaria Day 2024, WHO joins the RBM Partnership to End Malaria and other partners in highlighting barriers to health equity, gender equality and human rights in malaria responses worldwide – as well as concrete measures to overcome them,” the statement added.
The WHO urged the world against inequality in emphasised quality healthcare, noting that despite everyone having the right to quality, timely, and affordable services to prevent, detect, and treat malaria, this is not a reality for all.
According to the agency, infants and young children have continued to suffer the greatest mortality, with an estimated four out of five malaria-related deaths in the African Region among children under five years of age in 2022.
“Pregnancy reduces a woman’s immunity to malaria, making her more susceptible to infection and increasing her risk of severe disease and death. Gender inequalities, discrimination and harmful gender norms heighten her risk of contracting the disease. If untreated, malaria in pregnancy can cause severe anaemia, maternal death, stillbirth, premature delivery, and low-birth-weight babies.
The agency urged an end to discrimination and stigma and called for community involvement in health decisions, closer healthcare provision through primary healthcare, and addressing factors increasing malaria risk, including integrating malaria control into universal health coverage.
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: umustapha@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M