Egypt has achieved a significant milestone as the World Health Organization (WHO) has formally declared the country malaria-free. WHO referred to this accomplishment as “truly historic.”
Although malaria was an issue in Egypt for thousands of years, it is now extinct. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of WHO, declared, “Malaria is as old as Egyptian civilization, but it no longer exists in the country.”
Egypt began its efforts to eradicate malaria about a century ago. A nation must demonstrate that there hasn’t been any local malarial transmission for at least three years in order to be deemed malaria-free.
More than 600,000 people still die from malaria each year, primarily in Africa. However, Egypt is currently one of 44 nations and one territory around the world that have eliminated the disease. It is also the third country in the WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Region to achieve this, after the United Arab Emirates and Morocco.
Egypt’s efforts were commended by the WHO, which also cautioned that the nation had to remain vigilant to prevent the spread of malaria. According to the group, Egypt started banning foods that attract mosquitoes, such rice, in the 1920s in an effort to combat malaria.
A parasite that mosquitoes carry causes malaria. The best approaches to prevent malaria are still to avoid mosquito bites and to regularly monitor the disease, even if vaccinations are already being used in some places.
(Africanews)
