The World Health Organisation has said Europe recorded zero cases of malaria infection in the last one year.
The world health body said this was a fall from the 90,712 cases of indigenous malaria cases in 1995. This is a significant achievement for any region in the world.
The WHO Regional Director for Europe, Dr. Zsuzsanna Jakab, said the achievement wouldn't have been possible without the strong political commitment on the part of European leaders combined with the support of the WHO.
He said,“This is a milestone in Europe’s public health history and in the efforts to eliminate malaria globally. Until malaria is eradicated globally, people travelling to and from malaria-endemic countries can import the disease to Europe, and we have to keep up the good work to prevent its reintroduction,”
Europe was previously declared malaria-free in 1975 before the disease resurfaced in some parts of Europe. The disease is common in sub-Saharan Africa. There were 438,000 deaths from the disease in 2015.
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