WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Following nearly a century-long effort, the World Health Organization has certified Georgia as malaria-free. With this announcement, Georgia joins the ranks of 45 countries and 1 territory that have achieved this milestone.
'Today we congratulate the people of Georgia for their decades of targeted and sustained actions to eliminate malaria, one of the world's leading killers,' said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. 'Georgia's commitment and success gives us hope that a malaria-free world is possible.'
Certification of malaria elimination is granted by WHO when a country has proven, beyond reasonable doubt, that the chain of indigenous transmission has been interrupted nationwide for at least the previous three consecutive years.
Malaria has plagued Georgia since ancient times. Before the introduction of systematic control efforts in the early 1900s, at least 3 malaria parasite species were endemic in the country. In the 1920s, an estimated 30 percent of the population suffered from malaria caused by the P. vivax malaria species.
In the post-war period, Georgia launched an intensive program aimed at eliminating malaria, using newer medicines, insecticide spraying and robust entomological surveillance. The campaign successfully interrupted the transmission of P. falciparum by 1953, P. malariae by 1960 and P. vivax by 1970.
Georgia remained malaria-free for 25 years, but by 2002, malaria had reemerged in the country with 474 cases reported.
In 2024, during the Georgia's malaria-free certification process, members of the Technical Advisory Group on Malaria Elimination and Certification, an independent WHO advisory body, noted that Georgia has a well-functioning and adequately resourced health system, strong public-private cooperation, and political commitment to maintaining a malaria-free status.
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