World Malaria Day: This year’s celebration goes by “Zero Malaria starts with me”

The world observes World Malaria Day on 25 April every year to recognize and celebrate worldwide efforts to control and raise awareness about malaria. According to WHO, the annual event has activities and a campaign around the theme “Zero Malaria Starts with Me”.

After more than a decade of steady advances in fighting malaria, progress has levelled off.  According to WHO’s latest World Malaria report, no significant gains were made in reducing malaria cases in the period 2015 to 2017. The estimated number of malaria deaths in 2017, at 435 000, remained virtually unchanged over the previous year.

WHO says- Urgent action is needed to get the global response to malaria back on track – and ownership of the challenge lies in the hands of countries most affected by malaria.

On World Malaria Day 2019, WHO joins the RBM Partnership to End Malaria, the African Union Commission and other partner organizations in promoting “Zero Malaria starts with me,” a grassroots campaign that aims to keep malaria high on the political agenda, mobilize additional resources, and empower communities to take ownership of malaria prevention and care.

The Key message of this year’s theme-

Since 2000, malaria-affected countries and their development partners have made remarkable progress in reducing the total number of malaria cases and deaths.

But the toll of malaria remains unacceptably high. Every two minutes, a child dies of this preventable and treatable disease. And each year, more than 200 million new cases of the disease are reported.

WHO is particularly concerned by trends seen in recent years (since 2015). WHO’s latest World Malaria report shows that progress has leveled off and, in some countries, malaria is on the rise. Two critical targets of our global malaria strategy are likely to be missed.

Changing the trajectory of current malaria trends will require stepped-up and coordinated action by all stakeholders. But progress can only be achieved through malaria responses that are country-owned.

As the world marks this year’s World Malaria Day, WHO joins the RBP Partnership to End Malaria, the African Union Commission and other partner organizations in promoting “Zero malaria starts with me”, a grassroots campaign that aims to:

  • keep malaria high on the political agenda
  • mobilize additional resources
  • empower communities to take ownership of malaria prevention and care
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