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4 June 2024
From left to right: Dr Daniel Ngamije, WHO Global Malaria Programme Director; Dr Dorothy Achu, Team Lead, Tropical and Vector-borne Diseases, WHO Regional Office for Africa; and Dr Jérôme Salomon, WHO Assistant Director-General, at the World Health Assembly on 31 May 2024
At this year’s Health Assembly, held in Geneva, Switzerland from 27 May – 1 June, Member States noted a report by the WHO Director-General, Global technical strategy and targets 2016–2030. The report outlines trends in the fight against malaria, threats to malaria control, actions taken to counter current challenges, and opportunities to accelerate progress.
On the sidelines of the World Health Assembly, Dr Bernard Okoe Boye, the Hon Minister of Health of Ghana (pictured left), signed the Yaoundé Declaration committing, among other measures, to accelerated action to end malaria deaths in his country. This final signature seals pledges from 11 African countries with a high malaria burden, showcasing united political leadership and country-led ownership.
In response to ever-increasing financial constraints, WHO, in consultation with national malaria programme managers and technical partners, has developed a set of guiding principles for prioritizing high-impact malaria interventions – in particular early diagnosis and treatment, insecticide-treated nets, indoor residual spraying, malaria vaccines and chemoprevention. The guidance aims to support national malaria control programmes in defining the most appropriate mix of interventions in resource-limited settings.
On 24 May, the Central African Republic became the first country to receive the WHO-recommended R21 malaria vaccine for use in routine childhood immunization. Along with the earlier WHO recommendation of the RTS,S vaccine, there is now sufficient vaccine supply to scale up malaria vaccination in Africa. Gavi, UNICEF, WHO, and partners are supporting governments as they prepare to receive and introduce the vaccines.
The WHO Task Team on Climate Change, Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) and Malaria, in partnership with Reaching the Last Mile, has released a major scoping review exploring the effects of human-induced changes to climate patterns on malaria and NTDs. Drawing on evidence presented in more than 500 papers, the review found that available analyses do not allow for a “confident prediction” of the overall global impact of climate variability on these diseases. It calls for comprehensive and standardized modelling efforts to better understand how climate change will directly and indirectly affect malaria and NTDs.
WHO has published a new protocol to support entomological comparative efficacy assessments for vector control products. This evidence is used to inform discussions within the guidelines development context as to whether or not a new vector control product should be considered as covered by one or more existing WHO recommendations.
The WHO susceptibility test kit has been used extensively for monitoring of insecticide resistance in disease vectors. Over the years, there have been reports of quality issues associated with this equipment, such as damage to kits with use, breakage, loss of parts and long shipping times. In 2023, WHO sought feedback on the quality and ease of use of the test kit; results from the survey are published in this report.
