WHO warns that malaria deaths in Africa could double this year

NAIROBI/LAGOS, April 23 (Reuters) - The number of deaths
caused by malaria in Sub-Saharan Africa could double to 769,000
this year, as efforts to curb the disease are disrupted by the
COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organisation warned on
Thursday.
The region has more than 25,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19,
with more than 1,200 deaths, and governments working with
partners such as the WHO are focusing on tackling the pandemic.
WHO Regional Director for Africa Dr Matshidiso Moeti called
on all countries to ensure that essential malaria prevention
work continues.
"A recent analysis has found that if insecticide-treated bed
net distribution stops, and case management reduces, malaria
deaths in sub-Saharan Africa could double in comparison to
2018," Moeti said at a briefing.
"This would be the highest number of deaths seen in the
region since the year 2000."
She pointed to statistics from Africa's ebola outbreak
showing that more people died of other diseases, including
malaria, than from ebola itself, due to lack of access to
treatment.
"Let us not repeat that again with COVID-19," she said.
In 2018, there were 213 million malaria cases and 360,000
related deaths in the African region, accounting for over 90% of
global cases.
The WHO said that if the focus on slowing the spread of the
new coronavirus leads to a reduction by three quarters of access
to anti-malaria medicines, deaths could double to 769,000.
"Countries across the region have a critical window of
opportunity to minimize disruptions in malaria prevention and
treatment and save lives at this stage of the COVID-19
outbreak," the WHO said in a statement.
The doubling of the number of deaths represents the worst
case scenario, which also assumes the suspension of all
distribution of treated mosquito nets due to the pandemic, the
WHO said.
Benin, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone
and Chad have all initiated anti-malaria programmes during the
pandemic, the WHO said, adding that should serve as a model for
other nations on the continent.