World Malaria Day 2013
World Malaria Day will be held every year on 25th of April and recognizes global efforts to control Malaria. World Malaria Day 2013 theme is “Invest in the future: defeat malaria”. Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease caused by a eukaryotic protist of the genus Plasmodium. Malaria is naturally transmitted by the bite of a female Anopheles mosquito. The purpose of the day is to raise awareness of malaria as a disease that is preventable and treatable and to mobilize communities across the world to get involved in the fight against it. The RBM (Roll Back Malaria) Partnership was launched in 1998 by WHO, UNICEF, UNDP and the World Bank, in an effort to provide a coordinated global response to the disease. The RBM Partnership is led by the Executive Director, and served by a Secretariat that is hosted by the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. The Secretariat works to facilitate policy coordination at a global level. According to the World Health Organization, approximately half the world’s population is at risk from malaria. And while malaria is a preventable and treatable disease, it still claims the life of a child every minute, with more than 90% of all malaria deaths occurring in Africa. Globally, 3.3 billion people in 106 countries are at risk of malaria. In 2009, 781 000 people died from malaria, mainly women and children in Africa.
World Malaria Day was established in May 2007 by the 60th session of the World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of the World Health Organization. The day was established to provide “education and understanding of malaria” and spread information on “year-long intensified implementation of national malaria-control strategies, including community-based activities for malaria prevention and treatment in endemic areas.”
