Egypt Gets WHO Certification As Malaria-Free

The World Health Organization, WHO, on Sunday certified Egypt as malaria-free and described the achievement as “truly historic” and the culmination of nearly a century of work to stamp out the disease.

“Malaria is as old as Egyptian civilisation itself, but the disease that plagued pharaohs now belongs to its history and not its future,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.

“This certification of Egypt as malaria-free is truly historic, and a testament to the commitment of the people and government of Egypt to rid themselves of this ancient scourge.”

With the addition of Egypt, there are 44 countries and one territory that are now been certified as malaria-free.

Didactic Information Hut reports that certification is granted by the WHO when a country has proven that the chain of indigenous malaria transmission by Anopheles mosquitoes has been interrupted nationwide for at least the previous three consecutive years.

Also, a country must demonstrate the ability to prevent the re-establishment of transmission.

It may interest you to know that according to the WHO, Malaria kills more than 600,000 people every year, 95 percent of them in Africa.