Ensuring Delivery of Malaria Control Services in Coronavirus Disease-2019-Affected Areas in the American Region

Abstract

The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has affected the delivery of all the national health programs, including the effortsthat have been taken for the prevention, control, and elimination of malaria. There are no doubts that the sudden upsurge in the number ofCOVID-19 cases has made the health authorities to focus their resources and time toward the effective containment of the infection. Thus, theneed of the hour is to guide the health authorities toward the interventions, which need to be implemented to accomplish malaria eliminationand at the same time safeguard the well-being of healthcare professionals. This can be accomplished by adapting the detection of malaria cases,simplifying malaria surveillance, and ensuring management of logistics. In conclusion, in the battle against COVID-19 infection, the routineservices for malaria containment have been affected significantly. Thus, we have to take an evidence-based decision toward the continuationof the malaria services in the region, based on the transmission pattern of the disease.