World Malaria Day 2022 – Vestergaard CEO: Advance Equity. Build Resilience. End Malaria. – QNT Press Release

#FIGHTFORWHATCOUNTS

By Michael Joos, CEO, Vestergaard

LAUSANNE, Switzerland, Apr 25, 2022 – (ACN Newswire) – World Malaria Day provides us with a moment to reflect on the scale of the challenge we still face – and recognise what needs to happen to fix it.

Make no mistake, great strides have been made. El Salvador and China were certified malaria free in 2021. However, most countries with a high burden of the disease have suffered setback and are losing ground.

How can we be satisfied, when 627,000 people died in 2021, from what is a curable disease? More than two thirds of those deaths were among children under the age of 5 living in the African Region.

This human tragedy, devastating millions of families, is impossible to comprehend. But the socio-economic impact however is calculable, and it is immense.

The global response to the COVID crisis proved that when the global economy is threatened, we can summon the power to overcome a disease which emerged almost overnight. So, why can’t we solve, rather than manage, a curable disease that we have lived with for far too long?

Simply, it requires us to strain every sinew in our collective global health-body, to move in the same direction, at scale.

So, what is stopping us?

We have tackled the low hanging fruit. The strategy and tactics we employed to get us this far will not serve to meet the WHO goal to reduce, by 90%, the global malaria incidence and mortality rates by 2030.

The WHO has clearly stated that it will require new approaches and greatly intensified efforts, aided by new tools and the better implementation of existing ones. Stepped-up investment is also essential.

So how is that going to happen?

The WHO, working with its partners, has done a fantastic job, figuring out how to …