+ A
A -
dpa
Mexico City
The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared El Salvador to be the first Central American country free of malaria.
“Malaria has afflicted humankind for millennia, but countries like El Salvador are living proof and inspiration for all countries that we can dare to dream of a malaria-free future,” said WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a statement on Thursday. The WHO classifies a country as malaria-free if there has been no local transmission of the pathogens causing the tropical disease for at least three years.
The single-cell parasites are transmitted by Anopheles mosquitoes.
Symptoms include fever, anaemia and neurological problems.
There are more than 200 million infections and roughly 400,000 deaths as a result of Malaria every year, according to the WHO. About two-third of the deaths involve children under the age of 5.
El Salvador has worked hard to eradicate the disease, said Carissa Etienne, director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), according to the statement. The country has put in the necessary human and financial resources for decades, according to Etienne.
After Argentina and Paraguay, El Salvador is the third American country since 2018 to be declared malaria-free by the WHO.
Mexico City
The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared El Salvador to be the first Central American country free of malaria.
“Malaria has afflicted humankind for millennia, but countries like El Salvador are living proof and inspiration for all countries that we can dare to dream of a malaria-free future,” said WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a statement on Thursday. The WHO classifies a country as malaria-free if there has been no local transmission of the pathogens causing the tropical disease for at least three years.
The single-cell parasites are transmitted by Anopheles mosquitoes.
Symptoms include fever, anaemia and neurological problems.
There are more than 200 million infections and roughly 400,000 deaths as a result of Malaria every year, according to the WHO. About two-third of the deaths involve children under the age of 5.
El Salvador has worked hard to eradicate the disease, said Carissa Etienne, director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), according to the statement. The country has put in the necessary human and financial resources for decades, according to Etienne.
After Argentina and Paraguay, El Salvador is the third American country since 2018 to be declared malaria-free by the WHO.
