As the battle to flatten the COVID-19 curve rages on, Ethiopia has defined a roadmap and will work towards the elimination of malaria in 10 years. Malaria is a disease considered endemic in about three-quarters of the country’s territory.
In a public address, the State Minister of Public Health Dereje Duguma stressed that during the previous decade, the ministry made significant progress in controlling this preventable and curable disease, but a large percentage of the population is still at risk of infection.
He recalled that the east African country joined the global campaign to eradicate malaria and a process is currently underway to meet that goal in 12 zones and 239 ‘woredas’ (districts) in six regional states.
However, in the year 2020, the program suffered several delays because, due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and other difficulties, the eradication program was not implemented as expected, Duguma said at a ministerial meeting held in Adama, capital of Oromia State.
He added that this forces health authorities in each of the country’s districts to identify the strengths and weaknesses observed in the past as soon as possible, so as to find more effective and efficient ways to treat and destroy malaria in the country by 2030.
According to national and international sources, some 60 million Ethiopians were at risk of malaria infection by 2019, with three to five million cases reported annually, and some 70,000 citizens dying from the disease.
All malaria-endemic countries in Africa are on a sliding scale towards a malaria-free future.
Bold and ambitious goals around malaria elimination were adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in September 2015 through target 3.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals; by Africa’s leaders through
the Africa Agenda 2063; and by the World Health Assembly in May 2015 through the Global Technical Strategy for Malaria 2016–2030, known as the GTS.