WHO declares Egypt malaria-free after nearly a century of efforts

Egypt on Sunday achieved a major public health milestone as the World Health Organization (WHO) certified the nation as malaria-free, marking the elimination of a disease that has plagued the country since ancient times.

WHO grants certification to countries that demonstrate, beyond reasonable doubt, that the chain of transmission of indigenous malaria by Anopheles mosquitoes has been interrupted for at least three consecutive years.

Now, the status has been granted to a total of 44 countries and one territory worldwide, the WHO said in a statement.

The WHO called the achievement “truly historic” and the culmination of nearly a century of work to eradicate the disease, AFP was mentioned.

“Malaria is as old as Egyptian civilization itself, but the disease that plagued the pharaohs now belongs to its history, not its future,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

“This certification of Egypt as malaria-free is truly historic and a testament to the commitment of the people and government of Egypt to rid themselves of this ancient scourge.”

“Receiving the malaria eradication certificate today is not the end of the journey, but the beginning of a new phase,” said Egypt’s Health Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar.

“We must now work tirelessly and vigilantly to maintain our achievement by maintaining the highest standards for surveillance, diagnosis and treatment.”

For a country to be certified malaria-free, it must also demonstrate the ability to prevent re-establishment of transmission.

Spread by mosquitoes, malaria is found mainly in tropical countries and the infection is caused by a parasite that kills more than 600,000 people each year, 95% of them in Africa, according to the WHO.

There were 249 million recorded cases of malaria worldwide in 2022.

The WHO said the first efforts to reduce human-mosquito contact in Egypt began in the 1920s with a ban on growing rice and crops near homes.

By 1942, malaria cases in Egypt had exceeded three million due to population displacement during World War II.

The construction of the Aswan Dam, built in the 1960s, introduced new hazards with stagnant water creating breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

However, by 2001, Egypt had malaria “firmly under control,” the WHO said.