'Rotarians Against Malaria' (RAM) is a volunteer-run organization working to eliminate malaria. People who get malaria are typically very sick with high fevers, shaking chills, and flu-like illness. Although malaria can be a deadly disease, illness and death from malaria can usually be prevented. COVID-19 is a coronavirus pandemic that has spread quickly to all corners of the globe, presenting an emerging threat to millions of families at risk of malaria, fragile health systems in malaria-affected countries and decades of progress against malaria.
In the 1900s, malaria was pandemic in the world. Fifteen years ago, malaria killed a child every 30 seconds!
However, considerable progress has been made in preventing, diagnosing and treating malaria. As a result, deaths have fallen by 60 percent. Now, the aim is to reduce malaria cases and deaths by a further 90 percent by 2030.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the fight against malaria. Key factors that could impact the delivery of malaria prevention interventions include:The shutdown of malaria prevention campaigns, reducing access to life-saving prevention tools, such as insecticide-treated mosquito nets and hindering early diagnosis and treatment, leading to increased severe malaria cases, and more deaths;
- Lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to protect and enable frontline health workers fighting malaria to treat people safely at health clinics;
- Disruption to the supply chain of antimalaria interventions, such as long-lasting insecticide-treated nets (ITNs), rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) and indoor residual spraying (IRS);
- Limited access to essential health services and community health workers prevented from conducting testing at the local level and providing antimalarials that lead to early diagnosis and treatment of malaria;
- Reluctance or inability of people with a fever to seek life-saving treatment, resulting in a higher number of malaria-related complications and even deaths
The global malaria community's coordinated response to COVID-19 must sustain malaria control efforts to prevent, detect and treat malaria and avoid unnecessary cases and deaths while preventing the spread of COVID-19.
