WHO warns against major malaria return

Lack of funding leads to increasing cases of malaria

Actually, there have been fewer and fewer cases of malaria in the world in recent decades. Officially, the disease from the tropics was on the decline. However, the World Health Organization's doctors warned that the danger posed by malaria was by no means completely banned.

Actually, malaria has been relatively well controlled and contained in recent years. The spread of the disease happens through the so-called Anopheles mosquito. The use of nets, prophylaxis and poison sprays has generally reduced the number of diseases. But now there seems to be a worrying trend: the number of malaria cases is rising again worldwide.

There are some tropical diseases that are spreading. Actually, doctors say that malaria can be controlled well today. The experts of the WHO, however, disagree. (Image: Henrie - fotolia)

In the future, more people could die of malaria again

"In recent years, we have made great progress in the fight against malaria," said World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a press release. However, the fight against malaria seems to have stalled in different countries and regions of the world. This will lead to more malaria cases in the future. As a result, logically, more people will die from the disease, the expert adds.

At present, the number of malaria deaths is about the same

So far, the number of deaths from malaria diseases has remained largely unchanged. In 2016, around 440,000 people died of malaria, according to the WHO. This corresponds roughly to the number of deaths from the previous year. 80 percent of the deaths came from 14 countries in the so-called sub-Saharan region of Africa and India.

These factors influence the fight against malaria

The decline in the fight against malaria is hard to trace to a specific reason. Apparently, however, drugs and insect repellent are not crucial for the decline, the researchers explain. There are many factors that can influence the progress of the fight against malaria. These include, for example, insufficient financial resources or general gaps in malaria prevention measures. But climate-related fluctuations could also have a significant impact, says Abdisalan Noor of the World Health Organization.

WHO needs more money to successfully fight malaria

The goals of the global WHO campaign to combat malaria targeted for 2030 can not be achieved if international spending on malaria reduction continues to be inadequate. In 2016, about $ 2.7 billion (about € 2.2 billion) was spent on fighting malaria. However, this amount is less than half of the total annual required 6.5 billion dollars (about 5.4 billion euros), explain the experts.

Financial resources need to be increased and mitigation measures strengthened

Under-funding is the biggest problem in controlling malaria. Unless current funding is increased and measures to curb the spread of malaria are stepped up, we are pushing the limits of the fight against malaria, adds Noor of the World Health Organization. (As)