"Malaria will not be eradicated in the near future," warns WHO | News from the world

Malaria will not be eradicated in the near future, even if it is feasible and could save millions of lives, according to experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) in the aftermath of a triennial review.

WHO remains committed to the "disappearance of every malaria parasite from the surface of the planet", as since the launch of the United Nations in 1948, said Dr. Pedro Alonso, director of his office. Global Malaria Control Program.

But experts warned in their review that there should be no repeat of past disasters. WHO's first global malaria eradication program, which lasted from 1955 to 1969, riddled several countries of the disease, but was not implemented in sub-Saharan Africa, the most affected region.

"The failure of eradication has resulted in a sense of defeat, neglect of malaria control efforts and abandonment of research on new tools and approaches," the review said. "Malaria came back with a vengeance; millions of deaths followed. It took decades for the world to be ready to fight malaria. "

In 2007, support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation enabled the distribution of millions of insecticide-treated mosquito nets, new drugs and a vaccine. Alonso said that while these tools dramatically reduce the number of malaria cases and deaths, they are not enough to rid the world of the disease that disproportionately kills infants and pregnant women.

The review was commissioned in 2016 to study ways to achieve eradication. It was found that there was no biological or environmental barrier to eradication and that global development would probably mean less malaria in the future.

"However, even with our most optimistic scenarios and forecasts, we are faced with an inevitable fact. Using the current tools, we will still have 11 million cases of malaria in Africa by 2050, "the review said. "Under these circumstances, it is impossible to set a target date for malaria eradication, formulate a reliable operational plan for the eradication of malaria or give it a price tag."

The drug resistance of the malaria parasite has made the task more difficult, but even without that, the nets and the new vaccine have only an efficacy of 40%, said Alonso. "Smallpox had a very safe and very effective vaccine," he said. "Polio too, which is close to eradication.

"We will not be able to eradicate ourselves because our tools are imperfect. They have allowed us to make tremendous progress over the last 15 years, but they are far from a miracle solution, in any form whatsoever.

"Our priority now should be to lay the groundwork for a successful eradication effort while protecting ourselves against the risk of failure that would lead to the waste of huge amounts of money, to the frustration of all involved, national governments and malaria experts, and lack of confidence in the ability of the global health community to rid the world of this disease, "said the report.

Progress has slowed in the last two years in efforts to reach the goal of reducing the number of cases by 90% by 2030, he said. He calls for a major investment of $ 34 billion (28 billion pounds sterling) to scale up current interventions over the next 11 years and strong political leadership to ensure affordable health care in affected countries. Better data on malaria transmission is also needed, as well as better tools for mosquito control and for protecting and treating people in malaria-affected areas.