TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – WHO warns of death rates from disease malaria in sub-Saharan Africa it will be higher than the deaths from the corona virus. Last year, more than 409 thousand people worldwide, mostly children in poor African regions, died of malaria and Covid-19 will increase the mortality rate in 2020.
“Our estimates will depend on the level of disruption caused by Covid-19. “There will be an increase in deaths from malaria by around 20 thousand and 100,000 in sub-Saharan Africa, most of whom are children,” said Pedro Alsonso, Director WHO for handling malaria.
Mosquito illustration (Pixabay.com)
Alsonso said it seemed that the death rate from malaria would be directly greater than the death rate from Covid-19.
The WHO report found 229 million cases of malaria total worldwide in 2019. Many countries around the world have been battling and surviving this mosquito-borne disease, at the same time facing an unprecedented challenge of Covid-19.
WHO says that the long-term success of realizing a malaria-free world in one generation is far from certain. Some of the countries in Africa worst-hit by malaria outbreaks have struggled to make progress since 2016.
Malaria is transmitted through mosquito bites and occurs in many parts of the world. Half of the world’s population is at risk of contracting malaria and the disease kills one child every two minutes. The focus of world funding and attention has been diverted to make child deaths that could have been prevented even smaller.
Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-malaria-who/malaria-death-toll-to-exceed-covid-19s-in-sub-saharan-africa-who-idUSKBN28A009?il= 0
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