Eliminating Malaria

Malaria has been an ongoing health problem for a number of years and it used to be a worldwide issue. Some countries have been successful in eliminating malaria from their country completely but there are still 99 countries that have ongoing cases of malaria. Over the years, there have been a variety of programmes aiming to eliminate malaria from all countries.

Elimination of malaria is classed as reducing the level of transmission by interrupting the vector that carries the disease. A country only becomes malaria free when it has had zero transmission for three years. This involves consistent strategies and technology in order to occur. The world health organisation set up the Global Malaria Eradication Campaign in 1955, which aimed to successfully eradicate malaria from the world. Although it was successful in eliminating the disease in some countries, the campaign was scrapped because it did not manage to reach its final goal.

Since then, there are a number of campaigns set up to eliminate malaria and it is hoped that malaria will be eliminated from Europe in 2015. This seems like a possible goal because the number of cases of malaria has decreased to 102 in 2011. As there are 99 countries that still have malaria transmission, they all turned to eliminating malaria in 2008 and there has been some success. The numbers of incidences of malaria have decreased by 17% since 2000 and three countries have been classed as malaria free in the past three years. The World Health Organisation is part of a Roll Back Malaria partnership and it also charts the elimination of the disease from the world. Malaria may still be a problem in countries for a number of years but hopefully with these plans and the development of a potential vaccine, the levels of malaria will continue to reduce.

---

« Is There a Vaccine for Malaria? Malaria in Pregnant Women »