The fight against malaria could suffer from the Covid-19 pandemic

Text by: Simon Rozé Follow

This Saturday, April 25 marks the International Malaria Day. The disease affected 228 million people in 2018 and killed 405,000. High numbers, which could be even higher in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

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More than 700,000 deaths from malaria in 2020. This is the grim prognosis of the WHO if ever the prevention programs of the disease were to suffer from the pandemic of Covid-19. With 93% of cases and 94% of deaths, the African continent is particularly vulnerable. "  Africa has made significant progress over the past twenty years,  " said Dr Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa. "  Although Covid-19 poses a major threat to health, it is essential to maintain malaria prevention and treatment programs. We must not go back  ”.

In addition, these programs are still struggling to get started on the ground. "  We are not at the desired level,  " says Dr Spès Ntabangana, who is in charge of strategies, monitoring and evaluation for Central Africa at the WHO. “  In 2018, only 50% of the population slept under mosquito nets. Pregnant women who were to receive three doses of sulfadoxine pyrimethamine during their pregnancy were only 31% to have it. A high proportion of children with suspicious signs of malaria have not received any medical care. They were more than a third in 2018.  "

Because of fear and confinement, people prefer to stay at home ...

Doctor Corine Karema, head of the Malaria Control and Elimination Program at Alma (Alliance of African Leaders Against Malaria)

Lucie Mouillaud

Children pay the heaviest price for the parasite, however: 272,000 children under the age of 5 died of malaria in 2018, almost two-thirds of the total.

As often, lack of funding is one of the main causes of this phenomenon. “  Most of the funding comes from foreign countries. Local countries do not finance the fight against malaria very much,  ”explains Spès Ntabangana. “  There is still a lot of work to do on this side.  "

Especially since the countries that invest the least in this fight are also those most affected. There are thus six African states which alone represent more than half of the cases in the world. Nigeria (25%), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (12%), Uganda (5%), and finally Côte d'Ivoire, Mozambique and Niger (4% each) are thus on the front line. to this disease.

If the campaigns are interrupted, more than 22 million children will be put at risk ...

Olivia Ngou, founder and executive director of the NGO Impact Santé Afrique

Lucie Mouillaud

■ In Gabon, malaria is an endemic disease

It is the primary source of consultation and hospitalization. Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, two out of four CHUs in Libreville have been requisitioned for the coronavirus. The very high media coverage of Covid-19, certain symptoms of which are close to malaria, is frightening. As a result, the national malaria control program has found that malaria patients no longer go to the hospital. 

In the streets as in the markets, people no longer hide their fear of going there in case of fever or cough. " When you go to the hospital, they will tell you that you have corona, when you don't have it." This is why we are fleeing hospitals, ”explains this young woman.

From his office at Nkembo hospital in the 2nd arrondissement, Doctor Safio Abdou Razack, national director of the malaria control program, notes that the Covid-19 has monopolized all the resources of the health system: " The Covid-19 complicates matters: saturation of the health system, misappropriation of health infrastructure and staff while malaria is still there ... "

The doctor, who recalls that malaria remains a very dangerous disease, invites people to restore confidence in hospitals. “ We are already competing with the Covid-19 in terms of places in intensive care. it is better that we do everything so that the maximum number of cases are treated in simple malaria so as not to have to seek places in intensive care. "

In Gabon, malaria is the leading cause of death, hospitalization and absenteeism from school or work. 15% of children under 5 die from malaria. 

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