Good News Network Egypt, one of the world’s 15 most populous nations, has been certified malaria-free after a ‘pharaonic’ effort that began 100 years ago.
Killing nearly 600,000 people every year, almost all of whom dwell in Africa, the malarial transmission chain has been interrupted for three years in a row, proving that the Egyptian health authorities can ensure it remains a negligent public health burden.
“Malaria is as old as Egyptian civilization itself, but the disease that plagued pharaohs now belongs to its history,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, to mark the occasion. The WHO praised “the Egyptian government and people” for their efforts to “end a disease that has been present in the country since ancient times,” and added that Egypt and her 114 million inhabitants were now the second country declared malaria-free in the WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean region.