如何在大流行期间抗击疟疾 | 盖茨笔记

At the start of the pandemic, many people feared that not only would COVID-19 itself be a disaster, but the lockdowns and other prevention methods would have an awful ripple effect: disrupting the fight against malaria in a catastrophic way.

在大流行刚开始的时候，许多人担心除了新冠肺炎疫情本身带来的灾难外，封锁和其他预防措施也可能会引发可怕的连锁反应，比如对抗击疟疾的斗争造成灾难性的影响。

A modeling analysis from the World Health Organization, which I shared here last year, found that annual malaria deaths in sub-Saharan Africa could double, returning to death rates not seen in over 20 years.

去年我分享过世界卫生组织的一项模型分析，该模型预测撒哈拉以南的非洲地区年度因疟疾死亡的人数可能会翻一番，死亡率将重回20多年前的水平。

A year later, I’m happy to be able to report that this worst-case scenario, at least for now, has been avoided. This is thanks to the leadership of African countries, which quickly adapted their malaria programs to meet the challenges of the pandemic. Practicing social distancing and other safety measures, malaria workers were able to carry out their duties, delivering long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets, controlling mosquito populations with indoor spraying, and providing preventive treatment for pregnant women and children. In Nigeria, which still suffers from 60 million cases of malaria each year, health workers managed to even increase their delivery of malaria control, protecting millions of children in one of their largest campaigns to date.

一年后，我可以高兴地告诉大家，到目前为止，这种最糟的情况没有发生。这要归功于非洲各国的领导人，他们迅速调整了各自国家的疟疾（防治）项目，以应对新冠大流行带来的挑战。通过实行社交距离管控和其他安全措施，疟疾防治工作者得以继续履行职责，包括发放长效杀虫蚊帐、通过室内（药物）喷洒控制蚊子数量、为孕妇和儿童提供预防性治疗。在尼日利亚，每年仍有6000万例疟疾病例，卫生工作者甚至设法扩大了疟疾防控的范围，通过迄今为止最大规模的卫生运动为数百万名儿童提供了保护。

At the same time, malaria resources have served double duty, tackling the mosquito-borne disease and helping to control the spread of COVID-19.

与此同时，抗击疟疾的资源发挥了双重作用，既应对了这种蚊媒疾病，又为遏制新冠肺炎传播提供了帮助。

In Zambia, the scientists and equipment in the National Malaria Elimination Program’s genomic surveillance laboratory used to monitor malaria drug resistance quickly pivoted to find COVID-19 variants in the country. In Mozambique, an app created for health workers to provide real-time reporting of malaria cases and fevers has supplied critical data to the national COVID response.

在赞比亚，“国家消除疟疾项目”中用于监测疟疾药物抗药性的基因组测序实验室迅速调整工作重点，该实验室的科学家利用相关设备跟踪该国的新冠变种毒株。在莫桑比克，一款为卫生工作者提供疟疾病例和发烧患者实时报告的应用程序，为莫桑比克全国应对新冠疫情提供了重要数据。

Despite this progress, our work is not over. Malaria still kills more than 400,000 people each year. And pandemic lockdowns and movement restrictions have hampered some critical malaria activities, including access to diagnosis and treatment efforts in Africa.

尽管取得了这些进展，我们的工作还没有结束。疟疾每年仍造成40多万人死亡。而大流行期间的封锁和旅行限制措施，阻碍了一些重要疟疾防控行动的实施，包括在非洲的疟疾诊断和治疗工作。

Still, I’m optimistic that a world without malaria is within reach.  And the COVID-19 pandemic reminds us why eradicating malaria is essential. Many of the building blocks we need to fight malaria and prevent the next pandemic are the same: accurate, real-time data; reliable supply chains to bring medicines and resources where they are needed most; and cross-country collaboration.

尽管如此，我仍然乐观地认为，一个没有疟疾的世界是可以实现的。新冠肺炎大流行提醒我们，为什么说根除疟疾至关重要。抗击疟疾和预防下一次大流行所需的许多基础要素是相同的，比如准确、实时的数据，可将药物和资源送达亟需地区的可靠供应链，以及国际合作。

Investments in malaria programs help build stronger health systems that will not only save lives and bring an end to malaria, but also protect us from the next pandemic. And that creates a healthier, safer world for all.

对疟疾项目的投入有助于（全世界）建立更强大的卫生系统，这不仅可以挽救生命、根除疟疾，更能够保护我们免受下一次大流行的影响，并为所有人创建一个更健康、更安全的世界。