Annually on the 25th of April World Malaria Day is observed across the world to highlight the need for sustained political commitment and continued investment so as to prevent and control malaria across the world
Overview:
The World Health Organization has continuously highlighted the need for and also called for innovations and investments to bring in new vector control approaches, antimalarial medicines, diagnostics, and other tools that will help in fighting against malaria.
The theme of World Malaria Day 2022
The theme for this year’s world malaria day is “Harness innovation to reduce the malaria disease burden and save lives.”
Significance of this day
The day is significant as despite being a treatable disease, Malaria continues to impact the livelihoods of people all over the world. According to the WHO, in the year 2020 around 241 million new cases of malaria and 6,27,000 fatalities due to malaria in 85 nations were witnessed. In the African region, more than two-thirds of the reported fatalities were among children who were below the age of 5. This data shows that in spite of achieving steady advances against malaria from 2000 to 2015, there has been a slowdown in recent years, especially in the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa.
History of this day
In 2007, WHO got the idea of observing this day came from Africa Malaria Day, which is observed by the African government since 2001. At the WHO-sponsored World Health Assembly’s 60th session it was proposed to change the Africa Malaria day to World Malaria Day. This was done with the aim of generating greater awareness regarding the fight against malaria.
