It’s worth noting that Algeria is the country where Malaria was first discovered in 18880 by a French physician namely Dr. Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran. After that, the disease became prevalent in the 1960s whereby it spread to an extent of 80,000 cases of malaria being reported every year. The numbers are alarming and this serves to prove how desperate the situation was back in Algeria for so many years.
According to a 2017 report on health, there are 219 million malaria case estimates and over 400,000 malaria-related deaths. Nonetheless, it is a sigh of relief for Algeria after it was declared malaria-free this year following the diminishing of malaria records for the past few years. This declaration is usually made upon a country’s proof of zero-malaria cases for 8 years consecutively. Having recorded the last malaria cases in 2013, Algeria qualifies for this status beyond any reasonable doubt. It becomes the third country in Africa to be malaria-free, after Mauritius in 1973 and Morocco in 2010. Indeed, eradicating such a menace takes a lot of effort in the health sector of a given country, in this case, Algeria, where the disease was first discovered but it’s now no more.
WHO’s (World Health Organization’s) regional director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti said, ”Algeria is where the Malaria parasite was first discovered in humans almost a century and a half ago, and that was a significant milestone in responding to the disease.” Malaria is a fatal disease that claims the life of a child every 2 minutes since endless measures to curb it has been futile for the longest time ever. This includes sleeping under mosquito nets or using insecticides against the parasites, although the insecticides are highly resistant. Therefore, any country’s effort to eliminate it is a great achievement in the health sector. It not only improves the economic welfare but also the overall production of its citizens who are less prone to the fatalities that emanate from this disease.
Algeria has tried all means to stop the spread of malaria by investing a lot of time, resources, and energy to curb this fatal disease through certain measures. One, the health workers have worked endlessly to do surveillance of the disease in the region, identify the malaria parasites, and treat all the infected victims to prevent its further spread. Once the health workers sprayed their regions with the insecticides in a bid to kill the parasites that transmit the disease. Surely, the efforts have borne fruits seeing that Algeria (once invaded by malaria) managed to finally eliminate this menace. A healthy nation is a wealthy nation as the head of the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership to End Malaria Abdourahmane Diallo said, “Malaria free status provides external economic benefits enabling them to free up resources to address other health and development priorities and improve worker productivity and school attendance.” Algeria was announced as malaria-free in the 72nd session of World Health Assembly in Geneva Switzerland, alongside Argentina which is the second country to be malaria-free in the Americas.
Technology, science, and investment have been at the forefront in realizing a malaria-free society that’s productive and economically stable. Algeria is just an example of the malaria-free countries we are looking forward to in Africa, and globally.
