BAHRAIN is hosting educational workshops, events and activities as it joins the rest of the globe in marking World Malaria Day today.
Every year on this day, people across the world unite to highlight the need for continued investment and sustained political commitment to prevent and eradicate the mosquito-borne infectious disease.
This year, the day is being observed under the theme ‘Time to deliver zero malaria: Invest, innovate and implement’.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) is focusing on the word ‘implement’, and notably the critical importance of reaching marginalised populations with the tools and strategies that are available these days.
“Malaria is one of the diseases that have a great burden on the whole world, and this disease has had a burden on Bahrain, as malaria was endemic in Bahrain in the thirties of the last century,” said the Health Ministry, in a statement yesterday.
Bahrain is supporting WHO efforts to raise awareness of the importance of prevention as a basic strategy to reduce the spread of malaria by educating the public about the disease, explain its symptoms and methods of prevention and treatment.
The life-threatening disease is transmitted through the bites of female Anopheles mosquitoes.
Five species of parasites can cause malaria in humans and two of these species – Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax – pose the greatest threat.
There are more than 400 species of Anopheles mosquitoes and around 40, known as vector species, can transmit the disease.
Malaria victims are typically very sick with high fever, shaking chills and flu-like illness. It is not contagious and cannot spread from one person to another.
This risk of infection is higher in some areas than others depending on multiple factors, including the type of local mosquitoes. It may also vary according to the season, the risk being highest during the rainy season in tropical countries.
It is both preventable and curable. However, without prompt diagnosis and effective treatment, a case of uncomplicated malaria can progress to a severe form of the disease, which is often fatal.
The Health Ministry said that Bahrain had actively sought and harnessed all necessary efforts and resources to combat this disease, establishing the Malaria Control Department in 1939 to start malaria control programmes on a regular basis.
“Thanks to tremendous efforts and continuous control, the last case of local transmission of malaria was recorded in 1979 and Bahrain was officially declared malaria-free by the WHO in 1982,” said the statement.
“Bahrain is among the first countries in the Eastern Mediterranean region to eradicate malaria, and since then it has been proud of its achievement of 44 continuous years without local transmission of malaria.”
Within the epidemiological investigation programme, the ministry studies how to combat malaria-transmitting mosquitoes and has specialised programmes to combat mosquito larvae and adult mosquitoes.
Studies and inspections are also conducted in mosquito breeding grounds to help develop solutions that ensure the safety and health of the community.
Emphasis is also placed on aspects of disease prevention by educating travellers about ways to protect against mosquito bites, as well as the importance of taking preventive medicines to countries where the disease is endemic.
There is also a surveillance system for suspected cases as malaria is one of the diseases that must be reported according to the Public Health Law.
There is a network of laboratories in primary healthcare centres as well as government and private hospitals that have the diagnostic capacity for malaria, and the Public Health Department follows up on reported cases and takes precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the disease.
This is in addition to the availability of specialised doctors and free treatment services.
Africa continues to shoulder the heaviest burden of the disease – accounting, in 2021, for an estimated 95 per cent of all malaria cases (234 million) and 96pc of all deaths (593,000).
Nearly 80pc of malaria deaths in the African region were among children under the age of five.
According to the latest world malaria report, published in December 2022, the disease claimed the lives of an estimated 619,000 people in 2021, compared to 625,000 in 2020.
There were some 247m new cases of malaria in 2021 compared to 245m in 2020.
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