The World Health Organisation (WHO) is calling on countries and global health partners to step up the fight against malaria, a preventable and treatable disease that continues to claim hundreds of thousands of lives each year. A better targeting of interventions, new tools, and increased funding are needed to change the global trajectory of the disease and reach internationally agreed targets. 

According to WHO’s latest World Malaria Report, progress against malaria continues to plateau, particularly in high-burden countries in Africa. Gaps in access to life-saving tools are undermining global efforts to curb the disease, and the Covid-19 pandemic is expected to set back the fight even further. 

“It is time for leaders across Africa – and the world – to rise once again to the challenge of malaria, just as they did when they laid the foundation for the progress made since the beginning of this century. Through joint action and a commitment to leaving no one behind, we can achieve our shared vision of a world free of malaria,”  WHO Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated. 

Sri Lanka’s Anti-Malaria Campaign (AMC) records that after October 2012, Sri Lanka did not report indigenous malaria cases. Although the WHO certified Sri Lanka as a malaria-free country in September 2016, there are imported cases that are accounted for each year, with 26 cases reported as of 28 November. 

“The AMC has adopted measures to ensure that even the imported cases of malaria are managed accordingly, with patients with fever and a recent travel history to a malaria endemic country required to be tested for malaria. Any patient suspected/diagnosed of malaria should be immediately notified via telephone to the Regional Malaria Officer (RMO), the AMC headquarters, and the relevant Medical Officer of Health (MOH),” Acting AMC Director Dr. Prasad Ranaweera told