Today is World Malaria Day. The day is marked annually to focus global attention on malaria, and its devastating impact on families, communities and societal development, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa.

This year’s theme, “Harness innovation to reduce the malaria disease burden and save lives”, aligns with the call to urgently scale up innovation and the deployment of new tools in the fight against malaria.

This also advocates for equitable access to malaria prevention and treatment, within the context of building health system resilience.

The past year has seen significant breakthroughs in malaria prevention and control, in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Landmark recommendations on the use of the first vaccine against malaria – RTS,S – were released by the World Health Organization to be used in preventing malaria among children aged six months to five years.

Dr Ebenezer Baba, the medical officer for malaria elimination, surveillance, and audit, at WHO Regional Office for Africa tells WADR the state of things in the elimination of Malaria.