MOGADISHU, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Somalia has made tangible progress to tackle malaria by reducing the prevalence rate to 4.1 percent in 2023 from 20.1 percent in 2015, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday. The UN health agency said the gain was made in the most affected areas by adopting an integrated disease response with support from the WHO and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and donors. Somalia's malaria program reduced disease incidence to as low as 3.4 percent in 2022 by applying prevention, interruption and supplementary measures, as documented by the country's National Malaria Control Program. However, the effects of the nation's drought and floods contributed to a minor increase in incidence in 2023, to 4 percent, according to the WHO. Detection of new malaria strains, compounded by persistent insecurity and health impacts of climate change, may exacerbate the malaria situation in the country, Jamal Amran, WHO Somalia's focal person for malaria control, said in a statement issued in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. A historic drought affected Somalia from 2022 to 2023, and the country has since been hit by heavy rainfalls due to the El Nino phenomenon, according to the WHO. Such rapid changes to climate, including temperature, rainfall patterns and humidity, could easily lead to further geographic expansion of malaria transmission or new variation, it said. During 2023, Somalia increasingly detected a new strain of the parasite Plasmodium falciparum, which is hard to detect with the usual rapid diagnostic test, as well as a new urban invasive vector for malaria, the mosquito Anopheles stephensi, in several districts, the WHO said. The country also has a large number of people on the move, including nomadic communities, internally displaced people, and people arriving from neighboring countries Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Yemen. This tends to increase the disease prevalence, including malaria, owing to contributing factors such as overcrowded environments, limited access to health care, and lack of awareness, the WHO said.
