World Malaria Day takes place on 25 th April every year. It is an internationally recognized day to highlight the significance of the efforts to control malaria for the better health of every individual and society. There has been progressing over the years in the treatment of malaria successfully. It is important to boost awareness about malaria's causes, symptoms, treatments, and precautions so that necessary steps can be taken to eradicate it completely from everyone’s life. We should mark this 25 th April significantly as the fight against malaria to help our society stay healthy. 

The theme of World Malaria Day - 25 th April 2021 

The world is unifying to start an initiative on this World Malaria Day 2021- “Zero Malaria Starts with me” and “Draw The Line Against Malaria” - a youth focussed campaign. This is very important for the next generation of our country to gain awareness about the effects of malaria. The World Health Organization (WHO) is called people together to unite and fight the battle against malaria. It is important to accelerate and scale up our efforts to prevent malaria and save lives. We must go ahead and be responsible citizens in our country to push up the efforts to eradicate malaria. It is important to bring about a revolutionary change to eliminate malaria completely from our lives. 

Statistics of Malaria cases worldwide

Ahead of World Malaria Day, WHO congratulates the growing number of countries that are achieving zero cases of malaria. A new initiative is launched on this day by WHO aiming the halt the spread of diseases for the future of better life by 2025. Out of the 87 countries worldwide, 46 reported fewer than 10,000 cases of the disease in 2019 compared to 26 countries in 2020. There is a massive improvement in the number of cases reducing worldwide which actually shows the halt to the transmission of malaria in several countries. By the end of 2020, 24 countries have reported interrupting malaria transmission for 3 years or more. Of these, 11 are certified malaria-free by WHO. This truly is one of the biggest achievements in the sector of health by many countries.  

Malaria is the biggest killer 

Malaria is a potentially life-threatening disease of the blood caused by a parasite that is transmitted to humans through an infected female anopheles mosquito. Malaria is a serious potential life-threatening disease that can be preventable and treatable. 

Prevalence of malaria: Almost half the world’s population is at risk of malaria. 

What happens when a mosquito bites a human?

A mosquito is a tiny insect but when it bites a person, a small amount of blood is infected with tiny malaria parasites. About a week later, when the mosquito bites the next human victim, the parasite is mixed with mosquito saliva and is injected into the person bitten by the same mosquito. The parasite then travels into the liver and begins to multiply, destroying the RBCs. As malaria is found in RBCs, it can be also transmitted through blood transfusion, sharing needles, organ transplant, and mother to her unborn child before or during birth.

Awareness about symptoms is a must 

The symptoms of malaria typically start 1-4 weeks after being infected by the mosquito

It is important to build awareness about malaria to eradicate it from our country and turn our country malaria-free for a better healthy future.