China goes malaria-free with multi-pronged health strategy

 What is the News?

China has been awarded a malaria-free certification from the World Health Organization(WHO). This is a huge success for China, as it used to report 30 million cases of Malaria annually in the 1940s.

Malaria Free Status for China:

• China is the first country in the WHO Western Pacific Region to be awarded a malaria-free certification in more than 3 decades.
• Other countries in the region that have achieved this status include Australia (1981), Singapore (1982), and Brunei Darussalam (1987).
• Globally, 40 countries and territories have been granted a malaria-free certification from WHO. The most recent countries include, El Salvador (2021), Algeria (2019), Argentina (2019), Paraguay (2018), and Uzbekistan (2018).

How did China achieve Malaria Free Status? China started taking efforts to eliminate Malaria in 1950s. Several of the important initiatives include:

• 523 Project: It was launched in 1967 by China. It led to the discovery of artemisinin therapy in the 1970s, which became the most effective antimalarial drug available.
• Insecticide Treated Nets: China started distributing insecticide-treated nets in 1980s. This led to a huge fall in Malaria cases.
• 1-3-7 strategy: China launched a “1-3-7 strategy” referring to a one-day deadline to report a malaria diagnosis, confirming a case and determining the spread by the third day, and measures taken to stop the spread by the seventh day, along with continued surveillance in high-risk areas.

WHO malaria-free certification:

• Certification of malaria elimination is the official recognition by WHO of a country’s malaria-free status.
• WHO grants the certification when a country has demonstrated –with credible evidence, that the chain of indigenous malaria transmission by Anopheles mosquitoes has been interrupted nationwide for at least the past three consecutive years.
• A country must also demonstrate the capacity to prevent the re-establishment of transmission.
• However, the final decision on awarding a malaria-free certification rests with the WHO Director-General, based on a recommendation by the independent Malaria Elimination Certification Panel(MECP).