📋 Tender Overview
The World Health Organization WHO has certified Belize to be free of malaria following more than 70 years of continuous efforts by the country to eradicate the disease.WHO congratulates the people and government of Belize and its network of local and global partners on this achievement said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus WHO Director-General. Belize is another example of how with the right tools and focus we can dream of a malaria-free future.With todays announcement a total of 42 countries and one territory have been certified malaria-free by WHO including 11 countries in the Region of the Americas.After the achievement of Paraguay Argentina and El Salvador Belize today becomes the fourth country in the Americas and the second in Central America to be certified free of malaria in the last five years said Dr. Jarbas Barbosa Director of the Pan American Health Organization PAHO. This is an extraordinary achievement for Belize and it will also serve as an inspiration to the other endemic countries of the Americas.Effective investments in malaria controlOver the past three decades Belize has achieved a dramatic reduction in its malaria or malaria burden from a peak of about 10000 cases in 1994 to zero indigenous cases in 2019. Belizes success has been based on strong surveillance of malaria access to diagnosis and effective methods of vector control including insecticide-treated bed nets and indoor spraying. Community health workers have played a vital role in timely diagnosis and treatment.In 2015 Belize refocused its malaria program to focus more on improving surveillance among high-risk populations allowing interventions and available resources to be strategically targeted to priority areas. Belize maintained malaria surveillance efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic and made efforts to integrate the malaria and COVID-19 surveillance systems.Collaboration at national regional and global levelsA long collaboration between the national malaria program and the Belize Center for Ecology and Vectors ensured entomological surveillance which provided crucial information on the distribution and density of disease-carrying mosquitoes and their resistance to insecticides used for their control. . Cross-border collaboration with neighbors Mexico and Guatemala has also been key to success.Belize has participated in regional and subregional initiatives to keep malaria at the center of its public health agenda such as the Elimination of Malaria in Mesoamerica and the Island of Hispaniola financially supported by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS Tuberculosis and Malaria and the Regional Initiative for the Elimination of Malaria established by the Inter-American Development Bank IDB with the technical leadership of PAHO and the participation of the Council of Ministers of Health of Central America.With USAID support PAHO has provided technical cooperation throughout Belizes antimalarial campaign. This success in Belize contributes to PAHOs Disease Elimination Initiative which aims to eliminate more than 30 communicable diseases including malaria in the Americas by 2030. Belize is also a member of the E-2025 initiative They are part of a group of countries that according to the WHO have the potential to eliminate malaria by 2025.Belize is the third country to be granted malaria-free status in 2023 following certifications from Azerbaijan and Tajikistan in March.
