Malaria eradicated in Egypt

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Sunday, October 20, that malaria had been completely eradicated from Egypt.

This truly historic result is the culmination of almost a century of efforts to eradicate malaria, the WHO said on Sunday, announcing the total eradication of the disease from Egypt.

Malaria is as old as Egyptian civilization itself, but the disease that afflicted the Pharaohs is now part of its history, not its future, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

“The earliest known malaria patient was Pharaoh Tutankhamun over 3,300 years ago,” reports said.

“The certification of Egypt as a malaria-free country is truly historic and testifies to the commitment of the Egyptian people and government to rid themselves of this age-old scourge,” reports added.

Certification of malaria elimination is granted by WHO when a country has demonstrated that the chain of transmission of malaria by mosquitoes has been interrupted nationwide for at least the previous three consecutive years.

Worldwide, 44 countries and one territory have been certified malaria-free.

“Malaria kills over 600,000 people every year, 95% of them in Africa,” according to WHO.