ACCELERATED EFFORTS TO END MALARIA

ACCELERATED EFFORTS TO END MALARIA

Subject : International Relations

Context : The ongoing 74th World Health Assembly (WHA) — the main governing body of the World Health Organization (WHO) comprising 194 member states — has adopted a new resolution to accelerate efforts to end malaria.

Concept :

• The disease — caused by parasites that are transmitted to people through the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes — claims more than 400,000 lives annually.
• The world reported estimated 229 million cases of malaria and 409,000 deaths in 2019, according to a WHO report.
• The WHO said an estimated 7.6 million deaths and 1.5 billion cases had been averted since 2000, but the global gains in combatting malaria have levelled off in recent years.
• The aim of the resolution is to urge Member States to step up progress on containing the disease, in line with WHO’s updated global malaria strategy and the WHO Guidelines for malaria.
• It called countries to expand investment, scale up funding for global response and boost investment in research and development of new tools.
• The WHO Global Malaria Programme (GMP) is responsible for coordinating WHO’s global efforts to control and eliminate malaria.
• Its work is guided by the Global technical strategy for malaria 2016–2030 adopted by the World Health Assembly in May 2015.
• National Strategic Plan (NSP) for Elimination of Malaria (2017-2022) was launched by the Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare.
• India has set its goal to eliminate Malaria by 2027 three years ahead of the global deadline for the elimination of Malaria.
• It is designed based on the National Framework for Malaria Elimination (NFME) 2016 formulated with the support of the World Health Organization’s Global Technical Strategy for Malaria (2016-2030).