Abstract
Vector-borne parasitic infectious diseases are important causes of morbidity and mortality globally. Malaria is one of the most common vector-borne parasitic infection and is caused by five Plasmodium species, namely P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. ovale, P. malariae, and P. knowlesi. Epidemiologically, differences in the patterns of malaria cases, causative agent, disease severity, antimicrobial resistance, and mortality exist across diverse geographical regions. The world witnessed 229 million malaria cases which resulted in 409,000 deaths in 2019 alone. Although malaria cases are reported from 87 countries globally, Africa bears the brunt of these infections and deaths as nearly 94% of total malaria cases and deaths occur in this continent, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Most of the Middle East Region countries are malaria-free as no indigenous cases of infection have been described in recent years. However, imported cases of malaria continue to occur as some of these countries. Indeed, the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have large expatriate population originating from malaria endemic countries. In this review, the current status and epidemiology of malaria in the Middle East Region countries and other malaria-endemic countries that are home to a large migrant workforce being employed in Middle East Region countries are discussed.
Highlights
Despite great developments in human healthcare, parasitic infectious diseases still cause significant morbidity and mortality worldwide
Imported malaria cases into non-endemic regions and malaria-free countries are being increasingly recognized as a new public health challenge for the industrialized and other malaria non-endemic countries
Previous studies carried out in several Middle East Region countries have shown that travelers or returning travelers from Sudan have contributed to the number of imported malaria cases in Bahrain [22], Qatar [23,25,37], Kuwait [26,43,45], United Arab Emirates (UAE) [27], Saudi Arabia [14,47,49], Jordan [29,59], and
Summary
Despite great developments in human healthcare, parasitic infectious diseases still cause significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. Malaria is one of the most common vector-borne parasitic infections which causes more than 400,000 deaths every year globally, most of them among children under five years of age [2]. $11.3 billion were spent by non-governmental foundations/organizations in endemic countries on malaria alone through development assistance for health during 2000 to 2011 [3]. These efforts have resulted in substantial progress as 1.5 billion malaria cases and 7.6 million malaria-related deaths have been averted since the beginning of the new millennium [4].
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