teleSur
Ethiopian Health Minister Lia Tadesse warned that the malaria epidemic continues to be the leading cause of death in Africa, with a particular impact on children.
Related:
UNESCO: Ethiopia’s Gedeo Cultural Landscape as World Heritage
Tadesse made the remarks during the ongoing 9th Pan-African Mosquito Control Association Annual Conference and Exhibition, held in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital.
The spread of malaria and related diseases in Africa poses significant public health challenges for the continent, Tadese was quoted as saying by the state-run Ethiopian News Agency during the opening event on Monday.
She also emphasized the need to maximize efforts to control the disease by utilizing available resources and technologies effectively.
Furthermore, Tadesse noted that Ethiopia has achieved encouraging progress in the prevention and control of malaria due to government efforts in collaboration with various stakeholders over the past two decades.
She also mentioned that Ethiopia has been implementing a national malaria strategic plan, which was initiated in 2021 with the objective of eliminating malaria from the country.
However, the Ethiopian health minister said that despite significant progress in controlling malaria and associated diseases in Africa, conflicts, displacement, floods and droughts have caused a resurgence of the disease.
The five-day conference, running until Friday, has brought together more than 1,000 participants from Africa and beyond to discuss ways to combat malaria on the continent.
According to official figures, the number of individuals contracting and succumbing to malaria has seen a significant decline of 90 percent over the past decade.
However, the spread of malaria has been on the rise in the past two years, primarily due to natural and man-made issues such as climate change and security challenges.
