China is WHO certified without malaria

After a 70-year effort, China received WHO-free malaria certification – a significant feat for a country that reported 30 million cases a year in the 1940s.

“Today, we congratulate the people of China on freeing the country from malaria,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “Their success was difficult to achieve and followed only after a decade of targeted and continuous action. With this announcement, China joins a growing number of countries that show the world that a future without malaria is a sustainable goal. “

China is the first country in the WHO region of the Western Pacific to be certified malaria-free in more than 3 decades. Other countries in the region that have achieved this status are Australia (1981), Singapore (1982) and Brunei Darussalam (1987).

“Congratulations to China on eliminating malaria,” said Dr. Takeshi Kasai, Regional Director, WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific. “China’s tireless effort to achieve this important milestone shows how strong political commitment and the strengthening of national health systems can result in the elimination of a disease that was once a major public health problem. The Chinese achievement takes us one step closer to a vision of a malaria-free region of the Western Pacific. “

Globally, 40 countries and territories have received WHO certification without malaria – including, most recently, El Salvador (2021), Algeria (2019), Argentina (2019), Paraguay (2018) and Uzbekistan (2018).

Chinese elimination trip

Beginning in the 1950s, health authorities in China worked to locate and stop the spread of malaria by providing preventive antimalarial drugs for people at risk of the disease, as well as treating those who became ill. The country has also made great efforts to reduce mosquito farms and increase the use of insecticide sprays in homes in some areas.

In 1967, the Chinese government launched Project 523, a national research program aimed at finding new ways to treat malaria. This effort, which involved more than 500 scientists from 60 institutions, led to the discovery in the 1970s of artemisinin – a fundamental compound of artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACT), today the most effective antimalarial drugs.

“Over the decades, China’s ability to think outside the box has served the country well in its own response to malaria, and has had a significant ripple effect globally,” notes Dr. Pedro Alonso, director of the WHO World Malaria Program. “The government and its people have always been looking for new and innovative ways to accelerate progress toward elimination.”

In the 1980s, China was one of the first countries in the world to extensively test the use of insecticide-treated networks (ITNs) for malaria prevention, well before the WHO recommended them for malaria control. By 1988, more than 2.4 million networks were distributed nationwide. The use of such networks has led to a significant reduction in the incidence of malaria in the areas in which they have been deployed.

By the end of 1990, the number of malaria cases in China had dropped to 117,000, and the number of deaths had decreased by 95%. With the support of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, in early 2003, China stepped up training, staff, laboratory equipment, medicines and mosquito control, an effort that led to a further reduction in cases; within 10 years the number of cases had dropped to about 5,000 per year.

In 2020, after recording 4 consecutive years of zero indigenous cases, China applied for official WHO certificate on malaria elimination. Members of the Independent Malaria Elimination Commission traveled to China in May 2021 to check the status of the country without malaria, as well as its program to prevent the recurrence of the disease.

The keys to success