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Malaria & Neglected Tropical Diseases

Highlighting the commitment from the Kigali declaration and looking at how we can deliver political and financial commitment to eradicate malaria and NTDs and avoid resurgence. This Mediaplanet campaign was distributed with the Guardian newspaper and launched on www.globalcause.co.uk on 16-May 2022

Highlighting the commitment from the Kigali declaration and looking at how we can deliver political and financial commitment to eradicate malaria and NTDs and avoid resurgence.
This Mediaplanet campaign was distributed with the Guardian newspaper and launched on www.globalcause.co.uk on 16-May 2022

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A PROMOTIONAL SUPPLEMENT DISTRIBUTED ON BEHALF OF MEDIAPLANET, WHICH TAKES SOLE RESPONSIBILITY FOR ITS CONTENTS

The health of women

and children is threatened

by a treatable disease

Pregnant women, teenage girls and children remain

disproportionately vulnerable to malaria.

Malaria is one of the world’s

oldest, deadliest diseases,

stealing young futures and

claiming the life of a child

every minute, despite being treatable,

preventable and beatable.

The heavy human cost of malaria

can be measured in the number of

each and every life lost and the many

more that are diminished, with the

latest World Malaria Report revealing

241 million cases and 627,000 deaths

worldwide in 2020 - the highest

number of deaths in nearly a decade.

Malaria deaths are increasing

Tragically, millions of pregnant

women, adolescent girls and young

children remain disproportionately

vulnerable to malaria, with the

disease cited as the third highest

cause of death in teenage girls aged

15-19 in sub-Saharan Africa in 2019.

Despite substantial efforts to

continue malaria services during

COVID-19, disruptions resulted in

an additional 47,000 malaria deaths

in 2020 and, with the impacts of

the pandemic ongoing, so too are

disruptions to healthcare. The

pandemic has also weakened

economies and exacerbated alreadyfragile

health systems which paints an

even darker picture for the health of

women and children going forward.

Limited access to preventable treatment

In 2020, a staggering 11.6 million

pregnant women contracted malaria

across sub-Saharan Africa, and more

than two-thirds of eligible women

across 33 African countries did not

receive the full course of preventive

malaria treatment (IPTp-SP)

recommended by the World Health

Organization.

Malaria in pregnancy has been

associated with maternal anaemia,

exposing the mother to an increased

risk of death before, during and after

childbirth. The dangers are also

substantial for the newborn child,

including low birth weight which

can impact growth and cognitive

development.

Achieving key global malaria targets

One third of the Global Fund to Fight

AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria’s

investment goes towards building

inclusive health systems, ensuring

that women and girls have access to

quality health services for malaria

and sexual and reproductive health.

This helps boost progress toward key

global malaria targets and supports

many of the Sustainable Development

Goals including fighting poverty,

improving gender equality and

universal health.

The Global Fund’s seventh

replenishment target this Autumn is

to raise at least USD 18 billion to fight

the three diseases, which would save

20 million lives, cut the malaria death

rate by 64% and build a healthier,

more equitable world, making the

UK’s financial commitment to ending

malaria more critical than ever.

Malaria is a disease that this

generation can end, but only

if we act now.

WRITTEN BY

James Whiting

CEO, Malaria No More UK

Genuine intersectoral

collaboration needed to

achieve better progress

against vector-borne NTDs

WRITTEN BY

Ashok Moloo

Information Officer,

WHO Department of

Control of Neglected

Tropical Diseases

WRITTEN BY

Dr Raman Velayudhan

Head, Veterinary Public

Health, Vector Control

and Environment,

WHO Department of

Control of Neglected

Tropical Diseases

This article was

originally published

on the World Health

Organization’s

website. Scan the

QR code to access

the original article

The world needs to work better and collaborate with

sectors beyond health to implement the Global Vector

Control Response 2017–2030 (GVCR).

The silent spread of vectors over the years means

more countries are now exposed to arboviral

diseases, with human activities facilitating their

survival and propagation.

“It is time that vector control programmes work jointly with

city planners, environmentalists, engineers and sectors that

manage water and sanitation,” says a leading expert during a

WHO-hosted webinar on ‘Reducing the burden and threat of

vector-borne diseases to achieve the NTD road map targets.’

“We face the prospect of seven out of 10 people living in cities

and urban areas globally by 2050.”

Focussing on prevention

“One of the things which is critical as we build out future

cities … we really need to do better in the area of prevention

… reducing the habitats of all mosquito species,” says

Steve Lindsay, panellist and former Professor at Durham

University, United Kingdom.

This implies reducing the breeding sites for Aedes

mosquitoes that transmit vector-borne diseases such as

dengue, chikungunya, yellow fever and Zika. This can be

done by enhancing access to piped water, constructing

houses with built-in screens to block mosquito entry,

clearing waste, improving drainage and keeping the

environment clean.

More than half the world’s population is at risk of

infection from vector-borne diseases.

Challenges to meet targets

While the GVCR is on track for some activities, amounting to

an almost 10% reduction in global mortality over the past five

years, for many other activities targets have not been reached.

A progress report outlining achievements and challenges

will be submitted to the 75th World Health Assembly in

May 2022.

Assessing global risk

More than half the world’s population is at risk of

infection from vector-borne diseases, especially dengue,

leishmaniasis and malaria.

Vectors are responsible for transmitting many neglected

tropical diseases, mostly among the poorest populations

where there is a lack of access to adequate housing, safe

drinking-water and sanitation.

During the past two decades, many vector-borne diseases

have emerged or re-emerged, spreading to new parts of the

world. Dengue alone has increased six-fold since 2000 and

it affects over 130 countries and still there are no effective

drugs, vaccines and sustainable vector control tools, making

it more neglected.

Other factors, such as environmental changes, increased

international travel and trade, changes in agricultural

practices and rapid, unplanned urbanisation have

facilitated the spread of many vectors worldwide.

Current efforts to address the needs for better diagnostics,

vaccines and sustainable innovative vector control

interventions such as the use of Wolbachia, spatial repellents

etc are encouraging new hope in the horizon to address the

void and meet the goals set in the NTD roadmap 2021-2030.

06 MEDIAPLANET

READ MORE AT GLOBALCAUSE.CO.UK

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