{"id":644420,"date":"2019-05-22T16:49:52","date_gmt":"2019-05-22T16:49:52","guid":{"rendered":"
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Reuters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared Algeria and Argentina malaria-free.<\/p>\n

In a statement in Geneva on Wednesday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus praised \u201cthe unwavering commitment and perseverance of the people and leaders of both countries\u201d in fighting the often deadly tropical disease.<\/p>\n

In Algeria, where French doctor Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran first discovered malaria parasites in 1880, there have been no indigenous cases since 2013.<\/p>\n

Argentina has seen no cases of the disease since 2010.<\/p>\n

Malaria is caused by mosquito-borne parasites and causes fever, bleeding and neurological problems.<\/p>\n

It is lethal if untreated.<\/p>\n

The WHO attributed 435,000 deaths to the disease in 2017 worldwide, around 60 per cent of them children below the age of five.<\/p>\n

A country must have at least a three-year-long record of no new infections before it can be declared malaria-free.<\/p>\n

According to the WHO, in a world first, a malaria vaccine pilot programme for children was launched in Malawi in April, with the potential to save tens of thousands of lives.<\/p>\n

Malawi is one of three African nations, including Ghana and Kenya, that have been chosen to pilot the new vaccine, named RTS,S, which took some 30 years to develop.<\/p>\n

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