UN Health Agency’s African member states adopts new Malaria framework.

In the Annual Meeting of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) regional commission in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Sunday,the United Nations Health Agency’s member States in the region have adopted a new framework on implementing a strategy towards a malaria-free continent with Africa still accounting for more than 90 per cent of global malaria deaths in 2015.

The WHO Regional Director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti, has said that Malaria is no longer the leading cause of death among children in sub-Saharan Africa as they have made substantial progress in controlling malaria within our region. Since 2000, malaria death rates have plunged by 66 per cent, translating into 6.2 million lives saved, the vast majority of them being children.

In addition, over 800 million people in Africa are still at risk of malaria. In line with the Sustainable Development Goals, WHO reassures a firm commitment to eliminate the epidemic from the African continent by 2030, a target that would require an estimated $66 billion to achieved.

Moeti added that some of the main challenges to tackle malaria include gaps in access to available prevention methods, the limited number of interventions available and increasing resistance to medicines and insecticides. In addition, weak health systems present a very high risk to malaria control and elimination

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