COVID-19 Pandemic, WHO Says Malaria Death Rate Increases By 69.000 Cases Throughout 2020

Illustration of malaria treatment in Africa. (Wikimedia Commons/USAID/Africa Bureau)

JAKARTA - Health care disruptions linked to the coronavirus pandemic saw malaria kill 69.000 more people in 2020 than the previous year, but the worst-case scenario could be avoided, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Monday.

In total, more than 627.000 people worldwide, most of them infants in the poorest parts of Africa, died from malaria last year compared to 558.000 in 2019, the WHO said in its annual malaria report.

The number surpasses the 224.000 people reported to have died from the coronavirus in Africa since the start of the pandemic.

About two-thirds of the additional malaria deaths in 2020 were due to coronavirus restrictions interfering with malaria prevention, diagnosis, and treatment, the WHO said.

But maintaining health services despite the challenges means Sub-Saharan Africa does not see the doubling of malaria deaths by 2020 that the WHO has warned is a possibility.

In contrast, the region's death toll was up 12 percent compared to 2019, according to WHO data.

"Thanks to our urgent and strenuous efforts, we can claim the world has managed to prevent the worst-case scenario of dying from malaria," said Pedro Alonso, director of the WHO's global malaria program, cited from Reuters December 7.

Experts hope the fight against malaria can gain considerable ground following WHO's recommendation in October that RTS,S or Mosquirix, a vaccine developed by British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.L) should be given widely to children in Africa.

"With increased funding, access to life-saving tools, and strong innovation in new tools to stay ahead of evolving mosquitoes and parasites, we can accelerate transformative action and end malaria within a generation," said Abdorahmane Diallo, chief executive of RBM Partnerships for the Advocacy to End Malaria Group.

"We are now at a tipping point, and I urge global leaders to renew commitments and investments," he said in a statement.