2015
Overview
Maldives was WHO certified malaria-free in 2015 with the last indigenous case being reported in 1984. Maldives initiated its national malaria program in 1966 where health staff received training on malaria including DDT spraying technique. The program was first started in Malé and Malé Atoll, with indoor residual spraying (IRS), blood examinations, entomological surveillance, and mass drug administration. The government eventually expanded the program to the whole country in 1967 to 1969. Maldives continued vector control through larvivorous fish, larvicides, and preventative spraying as well as continued surveillance and mass treatment in focal outbreaks. Continued surveillance, vector control, and treatment of cases in addition to the centralization of the malaria program allowed Maldives to decrease annual parasite incidence to approximately 50%. The last case of Plasmodium falciparum malaria was reported in 1975. By 1984, Maldives reported its last indigenous case of malaria and has since continued its investment in the malaria program where malaria remains a notifiable disease, migrant workers from malaria-endemic countries are screened, and vector and larval controls are implemented. The sustained efforts to combat malaria, despite the last indigenous case being reported nearly 40 years ago, have allowed Maldives to remain malaria free and be certified as a WHO malaria-free country.
Malaria Incidence in Maldives (2000-2020)
Data unavailable
References
Hameed, M., Habeeb, H., Hassan, Z., Aboobakuru, M., & Mathur, A. (2021). The Maldives: A Long Battle to Banish Malaria. In Elimination of Infectious Diseases from the South-East Asia Region (pp. 35-42). Springer, Singapore.
mondiale de la Santé, O., & World Health Organization. (2017). Armenia, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Kyrgyzstan certified malaria-free–Arménie, Maldives, Sri Lanka et Kirghizistan certifies exempts de paludisme. Weekly Epidemiological Record= Relevé épidémiologique hebdomadaire, 92(39), 573-577
Regional Office for South-East Asia, World Health Organization. (2016). A nation shows the way: elimination of malaria in Maldives. WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia. https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/251840