Malaria
Reducing severe illness and
death from malaria is achievable, and progress has been made in the Southeast
Asian countries of Cambodia, Laos DPR, and Vietnam. Andy Corbley of Good News
Network recently reported about it, and it is indeed good news. Eliminating
malaria is a major UN Sustainable Development Goal. Leaders joined
international experts for a summit in June promoting the regional elimination
of malaria. Malaria transmission in the three countries has fallen by 67% over
the past 15 years. Corbley writes:
“Asia Pacific Leaders Malaria Alliance (APLMA) attribute
this decline to increased surveillance for earlier detection, expanded access
to diagnosis and treatment, and years of cooperation between neighboring
countries—the borders between which the mosquito does not respect.”
They are hoping to meet the
goal of eliminating malaria in those three countries by 2030.
“To be confirmed malaria free, the
transmission-incubation cycle has to be broken for 3 straight years—something
recognized as last having occurred in Egypt.”
Other countries in the region
have had a more difficult time. Myanmar is a poor country mired in conflict,
and along with much wealthier Thailand, it has large border regions that are
more difficult to access for health workers.
“At APLMA, leaders were urged to maintain government
funding for malaria, as final elimination is not only one of the most
complicated parts of the eradication process, but also the most expensive.”
Egypt and Cape Verde (off the
coast of Africa) were the two most recent countries to be declared
malaria-free. In Laos DPR cases are in the low hundreds, and elimination looks
to be achievable.
Malaria can be eliminated
with proper funding and adherence to health protocols and medicine.
Guinea Worm Disease
There were only 10 cases of
guinea worm disease globally in 2025, a drop from 15 in 2024. The disease is
poised to become only the second human disease eradicated after smallpox.
Former president Jimmy Carter and his Carter Center “embarked of its global
Guinea worm eradication campaign in 1986, an estimated 3.5 million human cases
occurred annually in 21 countries in Africa and Asia.” Now, the disease is
99.99% eliminated with an estimated 100 million cases averted. That is a great
achievement!
“Guinea worm causes immense suffering—not just for the
individual but for their family and community as well,” said Adam Weiss,
director of the Carter Center Guinea Worm Eradication Program.
“Every case is a real person we know by name. They are
enduring a disease we know how to prevent, and we’ve been given this rare
opportunity to wipe it out completely. We’re energized by this year’s progress,
but zero is the only acceptable number, and that’s why our commitment to
finishing this job is unwavering.”
The ten cases were in South
Sudan, Chad, and Ethiopia. The parasitic disease will likely be eliminated in
humans, but there are still hundreds of cases recognized in domestic animals.
“The Carter Center wrote that eradication efforts are
driven by strong partnerships, community-based interventions, and behavior
change, with a network of hundreds of thousands of community-based volunteers
trained to provide health education.”
“For a disease to be declared eradicated, every country
in the world must be certified free of human and animal infections, even in
those where transmission has never been known to occur. To date, the World
Health Organization has certified 200 countries free of Guinea worm; only six
have not been certified.”
References:
Southeast
Asia Nears Malaria Elimination, Down Two-Thirds Since 2010. Andy Corbley. Good
News Network. July 2, 2026. Southeast
Asia Nears Malaria Elimination, Down Two-Thirds Since 2010
Guinea
Worm Disease Reaches All-Time Low: Only 10 Human Cases Reported in 2025. Andy
Corbley. Good news Network. May 26, 2026. Guinea
Worm Disease Reaches All-Time Low: Only 10 Human Cases Reported in 2025
No comments:
Post a Comment