THEME: Acceleration of the Malaria Elimination in Tropical Africa: The Post-Pandemic Challenges
There were an estimated 241 million malaria cases and 627 000 malaria deaths worldwide in 2020, representing about 14 million more cases in 2020 compared to 2019 and 69 000 more deaths. Approximately two-thirds of these additional deaths (47 000) were linked to disruptions in the provision of malaria prevention, diagnosis, and treatment during the pandemic. Sub-Saharan Africa continues to carry the heaviest malaria burden, accounting for about 95% of all malaria cases and 96% of all deaths in 2020. In addition, about 80% of deaths in the region are among children under five years of age 1.
As the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to erode huge gains against much more devastating infections such as malaria, Dr. Francine Ntoumi also asks, what if the world had tackled malaria with the energy dedicated to the coronavirus? She sees the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to build structures that will reduce the burden of all tropical diseases2.
The Japanese government has been funding several research programs on malaria, neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), and other infectious diseases in Africa. In the symposium, some major Japanese government-funded programs, such as Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development (SATREPS), will be introduced to discuss the roles of their programs in Africa in the international frames of malaria and other infectious disease control, as also recently acknowledged during the Kigali Summit on Malaria and NTDs3. We will hear from the African scientists and policymakers who lead the malaria control studies and programs to share the findings and issues on the ground. Through sharing the status and challenges of this research and development, we will discuss potential areas of mutual research interests and the possibility of creating a mechanism to continue discussions and facilitate coordination and cooperation between Africa and Japan. This symposium focuses on malaria elimination challenges in the Great Lake region, where member countries share many bio-medical, eco-epidemiological, socio-economical, and geopolitical issues. We like to find ways to accelerate malaria elimination in the region as soon as the COVID-19 pandemic becomes less pressing.
1 World malaria report 2021. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2021. Licence:CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.
2 F. Ntoumi. 2020. What if tropical diseases had as much attention as COVID? Nature, 587 (7834) (2020), p. 331, 10.1038/d41586-020-03220-5
3 https://malariantdsummit.org