The World Health Organization (WHO) has certified Azerbaijan and Tajikistan as malaria-free for eliminating the Anopheles mosquito-borne disease in their territories.
The declaration came on March 29, 2023, after an extensive, century-long campaign by the two nations to eradicate the disease.
The global health body certifies a country as malaria-free, typically when the latter can provide evidence showing the malaria transmission cycle has been broken for at least the last three years.
"The people and governments of Azerbaijan and Tajikistan have worked long and hard to eliminate malaria," said WHO DirectorGeneral Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
This certification is given when a country has not reported a case of indigenous malaria infection by female Anopheles mosquitoes for the last three years.
With this announcement, a total of 41 countries and the European region comprising 21 countries have been certified as malaria-free by WHO.
According to the World Malaria Report 2022, the number of malaria-endemic countries is 11, while the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, India, Niger and the United Republic of Tanzania are the ones that have recorded a decline in malaria deaths.
