WHO declares Egypt malaria free after nearly century of efforts

Egypt on Sunday achieved a significant milestone in public health as the World Health Organization (WHO) certified the nation as malaria-free, marking the elimination of a disease that had pagued the country since ancient times.

The WHO grants certification to countries that prove, beyond reasonable doubt, that the chain of indigenous malaria transmission by Anopheles mosquitoes has been interrupted for at least the previous three consecutive years.

Now, the status has been granted to a total of 44 countries and one territory globally, the WHO said in a statement.

The WHO called the achievement "truly historic" and the culmination of nearly a century of work to stamp out the disease, AFP reported.

"Malaria is as old as Egyptian civilisation itself, but the disease that plagued pharaohs now belongs to its history and not its future," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.

"This certification of Egypt as malaria-free is truly historic, and a testament to the commitment of the people and government of Egypt to rid themselves of this ancient scourge."

"Receiving the malaria elimination certificate today is not the end of the journey but the beginning of a new phase," said Egypt´s Health Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar.

"We must now work tirelessly and vigilantly to sustain our achievement through maintaining the highest standards for surveillance, diagnosis and treatment."

To be certified malaria free, a country must also demonstrate the ability to prevent the re-establishment of transmission.

Spread by mosquitoes, malaria is mostly found in tropical countries and the infection is caused by a parasite, that kills more than 600,000 people every year, 95% of them in Africa, according to the WHO.

There were 249 million recorded malaria cases worldwide in 2022.

The WHO said that early efforts to reduce human-mosquito contact in Egypt started in the 1920s with a ban on rice and crop cultivation near homes. 

By 1942, malaria cases in Egypt had spiked to over three million due to population displacement during World War II.

The construction of the Aswan Dam, built in the 1960s, introduced new risks with stagnant water creating mosquito breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

However, by 2001, Egypt had malaria "firmly under control", the WHO said.