Abstract
Malaria is the most common vector-borne parasitic infection causing significant human morbidity and mortality in nearly 90 tropical/sub-tropical countries worldwide. Significant differences exist in the incidence of malaria cases, dominant Plasmodium species, drug-resistant strains and mortality rates in different countries. Six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, UAE) in the Middle East region with similar climates, population demographics and economic prosperity are aiming to achieve malaria elimination. In this narrative review, all studies indexed in PubMed describing epidemiological characteristics of indigenous and imported malaria cases, vector control status and how malaria infections can be controlled to achieve malaria elimination in GCC countries were reviewed and discussed. These studies have shown that indigenous malaria cases are absent in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and UAE and have progressively declined in Oman and Saudi Arabia. However, imported malaria cases continue to occur as GCC countries have large expatriate populations originating from malaria-endemic countries. Various malaria control and prevention strategies adopted by GCC countries including more stringent measures to reduce the likelihood of importing malaria cases by prior screening of newly arriving expatriates and vector elimination programs are likely to lead to malaria elimination in this region.
Highlights
Significant progress has been made in human healthcare during the last several decades
These studies have shown that all malaria cases are travel-related and occur in expatriates who have previously travelled to their native, malaria-endemic countries or among Qatari nationals who had travelled to malaria-endemic countries
A subsequent study reported similar findings as a total of 4092 malaria cases were reported during 2008–2015 with the majority of cases occurring among young non-Qatari males, during the months of July, August and September which coincide with the return of most expatriates after annual holidays in their native countries, of which 812 imported cases were detected in individuals from India and 772 cases were from Pakistan (Table 2) [46]
Summary
Significant progress has been made in human healthcare during the last several decades. Vector-borne parasitic infections are important as they are responsible for more than 15% of all infectious diseases worldwide, causing more than 600,000 deaths every year, mostly in poor tropical/sub-tropical countries [2,3]. The number of imported malaria cases in Kuwait during the COVID-19 pandemic year 2020 decreased by more than 80%, as the State of Kuwait put in place strict travel restrictions on people coming to Kuwait from Africa and South Asia during this period (personal communication, Infectious Diseases Hospital, Kuwait). We recently reviewed the epidemiology of malaria in Middle Eastern countries [12] In this narrative review, all studies indexed in PubMed describing epidemiological characteristics of indigenous and imported malaria cases, status of malaria vectors and how these infections can be controlled to achieve malaria elimination in the six (Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, UAE) Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries were reviewed and discussed. Status of Malaria Infection and Vector Control in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Countries
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