WHO says malaria deaths increased in 2020 due to Covid-19 restrictions

Health disorders associated with the novel coronavirus epidemic have caused the spread malaria It caused 69,000 deaths in 2020 compared to the previous year. However, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Monday (6), the worst-case scenario has been avoided.

More than 627,000 people worldwide – mostly children in Africa’s poorest regions – died last year, the World Health Organization said in its annual malaria report, compared to 558,000 in 2019.

This number exceeds 224,000 people who have died from coronaviruses in Africa since the beginning of the epidemic.

About two-thirds of the additional malaria deaths in 2020 were due to coronavirus restrictions that halted malaria prevention, diagnosis and treatment, the World Health Organization said.

But efforts to maintain health services, despite the challenges, mean that sub-Saharan Africa has not seen malaria deaths double by 2020, which the World Health Organization has warned is likely to happen.

Instead, the number of deaths in the region increased by 12% compared to 2019, according to data from the World Health Organization.

“Thanks to the urgent and painstaking efforts, we can say that the world has avoided the worst-case scenario for malaria deaths,” said Pedro Alonso, director of the WHO’s Global Malaria Programme.

Experts hope malaria control will gain significant ground after the World Health Organization recommended in October that the RTS or S vaccine – or Mosquirix – developed by British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline should be given on a large scale to children in Africa.

“With more funding, access to life-saving tools and strong innovation in new tools to stay ahead of the cutting edge mosquitoes and parasites, we can accelerate transformative work and eliminate malaria in one generation,” said Abderrahmane Diallo, CEO of RBM End Malaria Partnership. Law firm.

“We are now at a critical juncture and I urge world leaders to renew their commitment and investment,” he said in a statement.