Cape Verde achieves WHO malaria-free certification

The West African nation has become part of a total of 43 countries worldwide and is only the third nation in Africa to be recognised by the WHO as a malaria-free zone after Mauritius in 1973 and Algeria in 2019.

The accomplishment by the West African Island state was announced by the WHO on January 12.

According to the WHO, the certification is given to a nation upon presentation of thorough and reliable evidence demonstrating that the nationwide chain of indigenous malaria transmission by Anopheles mosquitoes has been broken for at least the previous three years.

“I salute the government and people of Cabo Verde for their unwavering commitment and resilience in their journey to eliminating malaria,” said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a statement.

Cape Verde´s Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva also said, “The certification as a malaria-free country has a huge impact, and it's taken a long time to get to this point. In terms of the country's external image, this is very good, both for tourism and for everyone else. The challenge that Cabo Verde has overcome in the health system is being recognized.”

The African continent has the greatest malaria burden, in 2022, the continent’s 233 million cases represented 94% of the total cases recorded globally and its 580 000 malaria deaths also represented 95% of the global malaria deaths, the WHO in 2023 reported.

In November 2023, 330,000 doses of the RTS,S malaria vaccines were shipped to Africa to help with the continent’s fight against the killer disease.