Selv om Afrikas folketal er vokset med (svimlende) 43 procent på blot 13 år, er færre afrikanere ramt af malaria i dag end i år 2000 – det skyldes mere effektiv forebyggelse, bl.a. i form af sengenet, imprægneret med insektmidler, samt behandling af ofrene, lyder det i årsrapport.
GENEVA, 9 December 2014 (WHO): The number of people dying from malaria has fallen dramatically since 2000 and malaria cases are also steadily declining, according to the “World malaria report 2014”.
Between 2000 and 2013, the malaria mortality rate decreased by 47 percent worldwide and by 54 percent in the WHO African Region – where about nine out of ten malaria deaths occur.
New analysis across sub-Saharan Africa reveals that despite a 43 percent population increase, fewer people are infected or carry asymptomatic malaria infections every year: the number of people infected fell from 173 million in 2000 to 128 million in 2013.
“Our defences are working”
“We can win the fight against malaria,” says Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General, WHO, adding:
“We have the right tools and our defences are working. But we still need to get those tools to a lot more people if we are to make these gains sustainable.”
Between 2000 and 2013, access to insecticide-treated bed nets increased substantially.
In 2013, almost half of all people at risk of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa had access to an insecticide-treated net, a marked increase from just three percent in 2004.
And this trend is set to continue, with a record 214 million bed nets scheduled for delivery to endemic countries in Africa by year-end.
Access to accurate malaria diagnostic testing and effective treatment has significantly improved worldwide.
In 2013, the number of rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) procured globally increased to 319 million, up from 46 million in 2008.
Meanwhile, in 2013, 392 million courses of artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs), a key intervention to treat malaria, were procured (indkøbt), up from 11 million in 2005.
Moving towards elimination
Globally, an increasing number of countries are moving towards malaria elimination.
And many regional groups are setting ambitious elimination targets, the most recent being a declaration at the East Asia Summit to eliminate malaria from the Asia-Pacific region by 2030.
In 2013, two countries reported zero indigenous cases for the first time (Azerbaijan and Sri Lanka), and 11 countries succeeded in maintaining zero cases (Argentina, Armenia, Egypt, Georgia, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Morocco, Oman, Paraguay, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan).
Another four countries reported fewer than 10 local cases annually (Algeria, Cabo Verde, Costa Rica and El Salvador).
Fragile gains
Læs videre på
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2014/malaria-control/en
Her er også link til hele årsrapporten.
