High burden to high impact: Strengthening services for malaria elimination

Abstract

Malaria is a major public health concern, and for many decades, consistent efforts have been taken to reduce the incidence of the disease as well as the associated deaths. In-fact, in the year 2019, a total of 229 million cases of the disease were reported globally. Malaria elimination has to be given utmost public health importance as the sufferings, complications of the infection, impairment in the quality of life, and the burden on the health-care delivery system are very much preventable. In the vision to accomplish malaria elimination, it is quite essential to understand the geographic conditions and the local predisposing factors before drafting the final strategy. In order to deal with this emerging situation, the World Health Organization in collaboration with the Roll Back Malaria partnership has come up with a high burden to high impact plan. It is a nation-owned and led approach developed in accordance with the set Sustainable Development Goals. In conclusion, the need of the hour is to strengthen services for elimination of malaria, and it will essentially require a multi-pronged approach involving different stakeholders, multiple sectors, and a well-co-ordinated team approach to bridge the existing lacunae and move considerable progress in the global aim to minimize sufferings and mortality attributed to a totally preventable and curable disease.