The World Health Organization (WHO) has officially declared China malaria-free. This makes it the first country in the western Pacific in more than thirty years to be declared malaria-free.
In the 1940s, the country still reported about 30 million malaria cases a year. Beginning in the 1950s, that number was brought down through a series of government efforts. Preventive medicines were provided in risk areas, mosquito breeding areas were reduced and insect repellents were made available on a large scale.
By the late 1990s, the annual number of infections had fallen to 117,000 and deaths had fallen by 95 percent. In 2020, China recorded no malaria for the fourth year in a row, after which the country applied for malaria-free status.
Australia received that status in 1981, Singapore in 1982 and Brunei in 1987. Worldwide, 40 countries and territories have been awarded a malaria-free certificate by the WHO. The Netherlands received one in 1970. In other areas, the infection was never diagnosed or the disease went away on its own.
Malaria is transmitted by infected Anopheles mosquitoes. The disease causes, among other things, a high fever, headache and chills and can be life-threatening if not treated in time. According to the WHO, 229 million people suffered from malaria in 2019 and an estimated 409,000 people died from it. With 94 percent of all malaria cases worldwide, Africa suffers the most from the disease.
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