WHO Advisory Group urges the international community to accelerate efforts in malaria eradication. (Photo: Danielle Powell/Swiss TPH)
New tools for malaria prevention and treatment are required to eradicate malaria in the foreseeable future, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). An overview of concrete findings and recommendations have been published today by the WHO's Strategic Advisory Group on Eradication (SAGme), led by Marcel Tanner, Director Emeritus of Swiss TPH and President of the R. Geigy Foundation. The expert group's report also flags the urgent need for progress to advance universal health coverage and improve access to services and better surveillance to guide a more targeted malaria response. "To achieve a malaria-free world, we must reinvigorate the drive to find the transformative strategies and tools that can be tailored to the local situation. Business as usual is not only slowing progress, but it is sending us backwards," said Marcel Tanner, Chair of SAGme. The group has published the executive summary of its report today, ahead of a WHO-hosted forum on "Rising to the Challenge of Malaria Eradication" to be held in Geneva on 9 September 2019. Saving lives and boosting economies The findings show that scaling up current malaria interventions would prevent an additional 2 billion malaria cases and 4 million deaths by 2030 - provided those interventions reach 90% of the population in the 29 countries that account for 95% of the global burden.
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