In 2022, 13 cases of malaria were registered in Belarus. All cases are imported, told at the Republican Center for Hygiene, Epidemiology and Public Health. Most cases of malaria were noted after a stay from African countries.
The department noted that since the 1960s there has been no local transmission of malaria, only imported cases have been noted. On average, up to 9 cases are imported into the country every year. The importation of malaria occurs both by citizens of Belarus (after business trips and tourist trips) and by the indigenous inhabitants of endemic countries.
Approximately half of the world’s population is at risk of malaria. The disease is most common in tropical and subtropical countries. Since 2000, there has been a gradual decline in the global burden of malaria, yet more than 600,000 people still die from malaria every year – most of them children.
Malaria is a life-threatening parasitic disease that is characterized by attacks of fever, damage to red blood cells, anemia, enlargement of the liver and spleen, and the development of pathological processes in other organs. Infection occurs when a person is bitten by a malarial mosquito, which is a carrier of the pathogen. Two more ways of infection are not excluded: intrauterine (from mother to child during pregnancy and delivery) and through blood transfusion.
Every year April 25th is World Malaria Day.
