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Source: un.org

November 3, 2016 — Costa Rica, El Salvador and Surinam were the three winners of the award “Campeones contra la Malaria”, Champions against Malaria, granted by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

PAHO recognized today the progress in those countries and said that this reaffirms the conviction that this disease can be eradicated in the region in the next years.

In Costa Rica, the disease affected about 2,000 people 15 years ago, but the efforts to control the disease led the country not to report any cases since 2013.

The Central American country implemented a national plan to eliminate malaria which included supervised treatment and home visits from care teams.

This is shown in a video on that experience released by PAHO. Liliana Gutierres of the Ministry of Health of Costa Rica is on the video.

“The strategy is an action plan towards 2020 and it is based on six areas: epidemiological monitoring, laboratory based monitoring, comprehensive management of vectors, medical care, means control and social participation and communication”, she said.

El Salvador achieved a decline of almost 99% of cases since 2000 and has not reported any deaths since 1998. PAHO stated that this progress is attributed to monitoring activities.

The organization explained that in Surinam, malaria has been practically eliminated inside the country, area that used to have the highest rates in America. Cases have been reduced to less than 90 per year, and in the past two years no deaths were reported.

At regional level, the disease was reduced by 67% between 2000 and 2014 due to the expansion of interventions. Deaths decreased by 79%. In 2014, there were 375,000 infections.

PAHO emphasized that this disease is still a challenge in the region and it persists among vulnerable populations such as indigenous peoples.

Malaria is a potentially mortal disease caused by parasites that are transmitted by the sting of infected female mosquitoes – Anopheles.