World Malaria Day 2021- Let’s aim at “Reaching the Zero Malaria Target”

Anannya Roy, Amity University Kolkata

World Malaria Day (WMD) is celebrated every year on the 25^th of April and it is a global effort to control the spread of Malaria. This day began to be officially observed in the year 2007 by the 60^th session of the World Health Assembly, which serves as the WHO’s decision-making body. Before the establishment of WMD, 25th April was celebrated as Africa Malaria Day. It began in 2001 and was signed by 44 malaria-endemic countries in the African Summit on Malaria. The theme for World Malaria Day, 2021, as mentioned by WHO is “Reaching the zero Malaria Target”. WHO’s RBM partnership official website also mentions this year’s theme to be “Zero Malaria- Draw the Line Against Malaria”

Malaria (Mal-bad, Aria-air) is an airborne disease that is transmitted by the bite of an infected female Anopheles mosquito. The pathogen that causes the disease is the Plasmodium parasite. Once it enters the body, it travels to the liver where it matures; then attacks the RBCs in the bloodstream and multiplies within 48-72 hours. It is a deadly disease and 3.3 million people across 160 countries are at risk globally. 

Some of the known causes of malaria disease transmission are:

1. Being bitten by an infected mosquito.
2. Blood transfusion from a Malaria patient.
3. Organ transplant.
4. Using infected needles and syringes.

A few of the common symptoms of Malaria include nausea, chills, high fever, sweating, headache, abdominal pain, muscle pains, and in extreme cases, the patient may even go into a coma. 

This year, World Health Organization (WHO) and its RBM partnership will recognize the efforts of those countries who are striving to eliminate malaria and honor those who have already irradiated the disease. This is an inspiration to the people of the world to take a collective effort and wipe this dangerous ailment off the face of this planet. World Malaria Day 2021 will focus on two drives, namely the ‘Zero Malaria Starts with Me’ movement and the ‘Draw the Line Against Malaria’ youth-driven campaign.

The World Malaria Report, 2020 states that the number of countries that have fewer than 100 indigenous cases of malaria has increased from 6 in 2000 to 27 in 2019. The Western Pacific region has reduced the case incidence rate of the disease by 30% and the mortality rate by 58% between 2010 to 2015. This progress is phenomenal and strongly indicates that elimination is within our reach. Despite the ongoing Pandemic, several countries have persistently kept malaria at bay, proving themselves worthy of the WHO malaria-free certification. This certificate is granted to a country when it is able to prove that indigenous malaria transmission has not spread for 3 consecutive years.

E-2025 initiative

Before World Malaria Day 2021, WHO had listed 21 countries from various continents, which have the potential to exterminate Malaria by the end of the year 2025 under the E-2025 initiative program. This year, WHO will publish a new report in which the progress and lessons learned by these 21 countries will be summarized. Following that, a new cohort of “E-2025” member countries will be announced. This will list those countries that have the potential to be completely free of Malaria by the year 2025. 

A few days prior to the WMD event, on 21st April an event was held in a virtual forum where world leaders, frontline healthcare workers, researchers all came together to discuss and share their experiences and ideas on the current global scenario. The ultimate target is to reach zero malaria cases worldwide. 

World Malaria Day is one of the 11 public global health campaigns currently marked by WHO along with world Health Day, World AIDS day, World Blood Donor Day and so on.

Also read: Impact of Tiny Plastic Particles on the planet

References

• World Malaria Day – WHO – https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-malaria-day
• World Malaria Day 2021 – RBM Partnership – https://endmalaria.org/worldmalariaday2021

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