In a concentrated effort to treat malaria since 2000, a study from the Oxford University shows that 700 million cases have been prevented in Africa as a result. The cases of malaria in Africa have been down to almost 50 per cent.
According to reports published in BBC, bed nets were mostly responsible for the major decrease of the disease. The study was published in the journal of Nature. This is a collaborative effort of UK Department for International Development and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The report said 13 countries that had malaria in 2000 had no malaria in 2014. Moreover, six countries had less than 10 cases of malaria.
The MRC Unit in the Gambia were one of the pioneers in the study of insecticide-treated bed nets according to a report by Medic Research Unit. They teamed up with the Gambian National Malaria Control Programme and were able to produce significant research findings that led to effective control measures for the disease. However, Africa still counted 80 per cent of the cases, 78 per cent of which resulted to deaths. Since 2000, huge international efforts were made to provide bed nets, insecticides and drugs across Africa. This is the first time that their combined efforts were measured across the continent.
Dr Margaret Chan, the director general of the WHO, said: "Global malaria control is one of the great public health success stories of the past 15 years. It's a sign that our strategies are on target, and that we can beat this ancient killer, which still claims hundreds of thousands of lives, mostly children, each year."
The executive director of Unicef, Anthony Lake, argued: "We know how to prevent and treat malaria. Since we can do it, we must."
The researchers from the University of Oxford analysed data from 30,000 sites in sub-Saharan Africa and estimated that 663 million cases were prevented in the course of 15 years.
World Health Organization and international charity Unicef said malaria death rates have fallen 60 per cent globally since 2000 and more than six million lives have been saved.
