Malaria Among Top Killer Diseases Amidst Efforts to Curb It

A number of preventive measures, including the use of insecticides and treated mosquito nets in high-risk areas, have helped cut the prevalence rate of malaria in Kenya even though it still ranks among top five causes of death in the country.

As the World Marks Malaria Day, malaria prevalence in Kenya dropped from 11 percent to 8 percent between 2010 and 2015, data by the World Health Organization (WHO) shows.

Statistics by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows that 16,000 people died of malaria in 2016, representing a 23 percent drop from 2015 when some 20,691 cases of death were reported.

Six years ago in 2012, malaria killed some 24,772 people in Kenya, the data further showed, reflecting the massive progress in the fight against the disease.

In 2016, an estimated 445,000 people died of malaria in 2016 with most of them being young children in sub-Saharan Africa.

Within the last decade, increasing numbers of partners and resources have rapidly increased malaria control efforts. This scale-up of interventions has saved 3.3 million lives globally and cut malaria mortality by 45 percent, leading to hopes and plans for elimination and ultimately eradication.

After unprecedented global success in malaria control, progress has stalled, according to the World malaria report 2017. There were an estimated 5 million more malaria cases in 2016 than in 2015. Malaria deaths stood at around 445 000, a similar number to the previous year.

Malaria occurs mostly in poor tropical and subtropical areas of the world. In many of the countries affected by malaria, it is a leading cause of illness and death. In areas with high transmission, the most vulnerable groups are young children, who have not developed immunity to malaria yet, and pregnant women, whose immunity has been decreased by pregnancy. The costs of malaria – to individuals, families, communities, nations – are enormous.

The African Region continues to bear an estimated 90 percent of all malaria cases and deaths worldwide. Fifteen countries – all but one in sub-Saharan Africa – carry 80 percent of the global malaria burden.

In most malaria-affected countries, sleeping under an insecticide-treated bednet (ITN) is the most common and most effective way to prevent infection. In 2016, an estimated 54 percent of people at risk of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa slept under an ITN compared to 30 percent in 2010. However, the rate of increase in ITN coverage has slowed since 2014, the report finds.

Spraying the inside walls of homes with insecticides is another effective way to prevent malaria. The report reveals a steep drop in the number of people protected from malaria by this method – from an estimated 180 million in 2010 to 100 million in 2016 – with the largest reductions seen in the African Region.

The African Region has seen a major increase in diagnostic testing in the public health sector: from 36 percent of suspected cases in 2010 to 87 percent in 2016. A majority of patients (70 percent) who sought treatment for malaria in the public health sector received artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) – the most effective antimalarial medicines.

However, in many areas, access to the public health system remains low. National-level surveys in the African Region show that only about one third (34 percent) of children with a fever are taken to a medical provider in the public health sector.

The WHO Global Technical Strategy for Malaria calls for reductions of at least 40 percent in malaria case incidence and mortality rates by the year 2020. According to WHO’s latest malaria report, the world is not on track to reach these critical milestones.

A major problem is insufficient funding at both domestic and international levels, resulting in major gaps in coverage of insecticide-treated nets, medicines, and other life-saving tools.

An estimated US$ 2.7 billion was invested in malaria control and elimination efforts globally in 2016. That is well below the US $6.5 billion annual investment required by 2020 to meet the 2030 targets of the WHO global malaria strategy.

The report shows that, in 2016, there were an estimated 216 million cases of malaria in 91 countries, up from 211 million cases in 2015. The estimated global tally of malaria deaths reached 445 000 in 2016 compared to 446 000 the previous year.