The World Health Organisation has released a report on Monday, saying that Nigeria alone recorded the highest number of deaths by Malaria worldwide in 2020. The global health body also said that the world was at risk of facing a malaria crisis.
“There were an estimated 241 million cases worldwide in 2020; 14 million more than a year earlier and the once rapidly falling death toll swelled to 627,000 last year, jumping 69,000 from 2019,” WHO said in the report.
“Approximately, two-thirds of those additional deaths were linked to disruptions in the provision of malaria prevention, diagnosis, and treatment during the pandemic.”
The WHO continued that the African continent had a “disproportionately high share” of malaria cases, noting that in 2020 95 per cent of reported cases and 96 per cent of deaths came from the region.
The report noted that “About 96 per cent of malaria deaths globally were in 29 countries”. It stated that six countries “accounted for just over half of all malaria deaths globally in 2020”, all of which are located in the African continent.
The WHO website also underlined the four countries with the highest count of Malaria deaths in Africa, including Nigeria at 31.9 per cent, the Democratic Republic of the Congo at 13.2 per cent, the United Republic of Tanzania at 4.1%, and Mozambique at 3.8%, all while there were an estimate of 241 million of malaria cases and 2,000 malaria deaths last year, mostly children under five.
