Backward slide for malaria: 16 million more cases in 2022 than before the pandemic

Despite expanding access to vaccines, medication, and insecticide-treated bed nets, malaria cases in 2022 exceeded the prepandemic level by 16 million cases, with several threats—including climate change and humanitarian crises—hampering progress, the World Health Organization (WHO) said [November 30] in its annual report on the disease.

Aside from COVID-19–related disruptions to the malaria response, the battle against the disease faces a constellation of challenges, including drug and insecticide resistance, humanitarian emergencies, resource constraints, and the impacts of climate change. The WHO said the problems are especially acute in high-burden countries, several of them in Africa.

In a statement, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, said, “The changing climate poses a substantial risk to progress against malaria, particularly in vulnerable regions. Sustainable and resilient malaria responses are needed now more than ever, coupled with urgent actions to slow the pace of global warming and reduce its effects.”

[The] report also lists some achievements, including the phased rollout of the RTS,S malaria vaccine in three African countries. The WHO said rigorous evaluation shows a substantial drop in severe malaria and a 13% decline in childhood deaths in all causes in areas where the vaccine was administered, compared to areas that didn’t receive it.

This is an excerpt. Read the full article here