The World Malaria Day, which is celebrated and observed on April 25 every year, represents an ideal occasion to highlight the milestones and achievements made by the UAE in the fight against malaria.
Themed 'Harnessing innovation to reduce the burden of malaria and save lives”, the annual occasion aims to raise awareness about this deadly disease that continues to threaten humanity.
Since 1997, the UAE has actually reported no malaria cases from within the country, and in 2007, it was therefore declared officially free of malaria after years of efforts to control the disease. However, the UAE is still forging ahead with its plans to develop a malaria strategy for diagnosing and examining imported cases to provide the latest medicines and free treatments.
The UAE takes pride in its sustained efforts to confront malaria not only locally but also globally, and it has never hesitated to provide aid and support to address this global humanitarian issue.
Over the years, the UAE offered financial support to “Roll Back Malaria Partnership” as it is fully aware of its international responsibility and the need to accelerate the pace of confronting the disease. It has thus provided the necessary investments to develop new tools for the eradication of malaria.
Generous support by HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed
International health organizations have highly commend the generous support to fight malaria, extended by His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces. Just recently, Malaria No More, in partnership with the Crown Prince Court of Abu Dhabi (CPC) and the Reaching the Last Mile program today announced the launch of a new global institute with the mission to combat malaria in the face of climate change and weather volatility. In 2020, HH Sheikh Mohamed offered an award of US$1.5 million to Malaria No More to assess the feasibility of climate-informed malaria strategies through Forecasting Healthy Futures (FHF)
Effective strategy
On this occasion, the Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) stresses that it is following an effective strategy to immunize the community against communicable and infectious diseases through improving the efficiency of the preventive health system and the epidemiological surveillance program to discover and treat imported cases in the country.
Therefore, the ministry renews its commitment to keeping the country free of malaria, through the implementation of the post-disclosure plan by promoting early detection and treatment of imported cases, continuous rehabilitation and training of the national workforce in all areas of control, and strengthening efforts to combat mosquitoes that transmit the disease.
It is worth noting that malaria is a preventable and treatable disease, and in 2020, it is estimated that there will be 241 million new cases of malaria and 627,000 deaths from this disease in 85 countries. More than two-thirds of the deaths were among children under the age of five residing in the WHO African Region.