World Malaria Day 2020: WHO tells nations not to compromise on efforts to battle disease during COVID-19 pandemic; says 67% deaths among kids under 5

A report by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) says that every two minutes, malaria claims the life of a child under the age of five.

Representational Image. Reuters

Children under five accounted for 67 percent of all malaria deaths worldwide in 2018, says the World Health Organization (WHO). Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the regions that has worst hit by the disease.

In order to spread awareness about the disease and recognise global efforts to contain the disease, World Malaria Day is observed on 25 April.

WHO says the world saw almost no decrease in new infections from 2014 to 2018. “Nearly as many people died from malaria in 2018 as the year before,” it added.

Efforts to reduce malaria cases

WHO says that every year the world witnesses more than 200 million new cases of malaria. This year, WHO has joined the RBM Partnership to End Malaria by urging countries to act now to save the lives of almost 400,000.

"As COVID-19 spreads across the globe we must ensure that efforts to contain the virus do not compromise access to life-saving malaria prevention, diagnosis and treatment services," said Dr Abdourahmane Diallo, Chief Executive Officer of the RBM Partnership to End Malaria.

Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Harsh Vardhan took to Twitter to express his views on malaria.

This #WorldMalariaDay2020 , let's pledge to strengthen our fight for a malaria-free world.
The planet is battling #Covid_19 & yet we cannot afford to lose sight over mitigation of other diseases.@WHO too has underlined need to save lives that are lost to malaria year after year. pic.twitter.com/y1egmn7ORP

— Dr Harsh Vardhan (@drharshvardhan) April 25, 2020

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres posted that the world cannot let go of gains made over the years against diseases like malaria.

As we work on tackling #COVID19, we can't afford to lose ground on the gains we have made against other diseases like malaria.

On #WorldMalariaDay I join @WHO's call for maintained malaria prevention & treatment services during the #coronavirus crisis to save lives. pic.twitter.com/vtm3X6twva

— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) April 25, 2020

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