Malaria hospital in Tanzania – credit Olympia Wereko-Brobby, SMS for Life
Using only current methods of prevention, testing, and treatment, Papua New Guinea has reduced the rate of malaria deaths from 13 per 100,000 inhabitants to just 1.
PNG is responsible for some 90% of all malaria cases in the Western Pacific region.
Lucy Dally, the country’s malaria coordinator, presented this incredible drop in the fatality rate at the Morobe Health Authority 2025 Review Meeting last week.
By 2023, the country’s total case count reached its highest since 2012 at 913,701, but has since begun to fall in line with a new expanded rapid diagnostics test and Artemesinin Combination Therapies program.
It’s been a long road for PNG and the authority. In 2000, 700 people a year died of malaria. Last year, that number fell to 148, with only 66 malaria deaths being recorded in Morobe, the most-populous province.
“The decrease in malaria-related deaths is due to different parties working together,” said Dally. “The surveillance team picks up information and informs the malaria team, who then takes action.”
The country’s national strategy aims to reduce malaria cases by 63% and deaths by 95% while seeing 95% of residents sleeping under insecticide-treated nets. This year, provincial health teams distributed nets, medicines, and test kits to 60 different health centers around the country.
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