A report issued on Monday, World Malaria Day, by the World Health Organization displays evidence that the ambitious goals put forth by their Global Technical Strategy for Malaria are attainable. The strategy calls for the elimination of malaria from at least 35 countries by 2030.
Malaria is a mosquito-borne disease caused by a parasite. Malaria symptoms include fever, chills and flu-like illness. Left untreated, complications from the disease can prove fatal.
In 2015, the countries that comprise the WHO's European region reported zero indigenous cases of malaria. In 1995, there were 90,000 such cases reported. In 2014, eight nations outside of the European region reported zero cases of the disease — Argentina, Costa Rica, Iraq, Morocco, Oman, Paraguay, Sri Lanka and United Arab Emirates.
Malaria mortality rates have declined 60 percent since the year 2000. Still, achieving elimination will be a difficult task. In 2015, there were 214 million cases of malaria in 95 countries that resulted in the deaths of 400,000 people.
"Our report shines a spotlight on countries that are well on their way to eliminating malaria," said Pedro Alonso, MD, PhD, director of the WHO Global Malaria Programme. "WHO commends these countries while also highlighting the urgent need for greater investment in settings with high rates of malaria transmission, particularly in Africa. Saving lives must be our first priority."
The methods by which the reduction in malaria rates was achieved are now under threat —mosquito resistance to insecticide is on the rise as is the parasitic resistance that is essential to the efficacy of a powerful antimalarial medicine. The development of new methods to combat the disease will be necessary to continue the push toward elimination.
In January, WHO recommended large-scale pilot projects for a malaria vaccine in several African countries.
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