To end malaria, we must support health equity – opinion

April 25, 2024
Scott Filler, director of malaria on the Global Fund

The fight against malaria is at an important moment. In recent years, the progress we’ve made against this disease has stalled, particularly in countries with a high burden of the disease.

Faced with latest challenges comparable to climate change, conflict and growing resistance to antimalarial drugs and insecticides, we risk reversing twenty years of progress within the fight against this disease. We must act urgently, constructing greater cooperation and investing more resources to forestall backsliding.

The theme for this 12 months’s World Malaria Day – gender, health equity and human rights – is apt. It reminds us that to guard the gains we’ve made within the fight against malaria and end this disease for good, we must strive to realize equality. To achieve this, we must make a conscious effort to give attention to those most affected by malaria and put more effort into supporting them of their fight against the disease. The more we focus our resources on those most in need, the higher our possibilities shall be of defeating malaria.

To spend money on places most in need, African countries have to be at the guts of our efforts. Sub-Saharan Africa has the best burden of the disease, accounting for roughly 94% of all malaria cases and 95% of malaria deaths. People living in poverty in rural Africa suffer most from malaria. Among this population, children under 5 years of age and pregnant women are most affected. In 2022, 4 out of 5 malaria-related deaths within the WHO Africa Region were estimated to be in children under 5 years of age. Around the world, groups comparable to refugees, migrants, internally displaced people and indigenous communities are disproportionately affected by this disease. The first step towards defeating malaria is to be certain that all these groups of individuals have equal access to life-saving tools.

Such tools include the newest dual-active insecticide-treated nets, that are coated with two insecticides as an alternative of 1, making them more practical against mosquitoes which have developed resistance to straightforward nets. Other tools include seasonal malaria prevention in children under 5 years of age, periodic preventive treatments to guard pregnant women from the disease, and indoor residual spraying (coating partitions and other surfaces of the home with an insecticide). Recently, two latest vaccines have been added to the toolkit – RTS, S and R21. Combined and deployed in areas of best need, these tools may very well be a game-changer within the fight against malaria. To be only, these tools must be used together as a part of comprehensive national malaria control plans.

We also need to seek out higher ways to strengthen the health systems and communities that support the delivery of life-saving tools. At the guts of huge healthcare systems is the principle of equality. By investing in constructing stronger primary health care, in addition to achieving universal health care, we are able to work to be certain that everyone, in every single place has access to the high-quality prevention and treatment services they should fight and defeat malaria, without suffering hardship. financial.

To end malaria once and for all, we must give attention to overcoming obstacles to achieving health equity.