Venezuela’s health crisis continues to abound and infectious diseases have been rising year after year to include measles, diphtheria and malaria.

Image/CDC
Image/CDC

Take malaria– The number of reported cases of malaria grew from 136,402 in 2015 to 240,613 in 2016 and 406,000 in 2017.

And 2018?

The president of the Medical Federation of Venezuela, Douglas León Natera warned on Monday (computer translated) about the significant increase in malaria cases in the country this year, due to the growing shortage of medicines and lack of supplies.

“More than 650,000 cases of malaria are reported nationwide so far this year (Through Oct. 15), all this added to the fact that national hospitals are only receiving 6% of the supplies they require for their operation,” he said.

The PAHO noted in September that the increase in malaria is mostly linked to the migration of persons infected in the mining areas of Bolívar State into other areas of the country with malaria-prone ecosystems, shortages or unaffordability of antimalarial drugs, and weakened vector control programs.

This increase occurred amidst a massive decline in the number of people protected by indoor residual spraying: 2.7 million people in 2015 compared to roughly 30,000 in 2016, according to the Center for Global Development.

Pedro Alonso, WHO director for Malaria Control said earlier this year, “In the 1950s, when the WHO launched its first campaigns, Venezuela was the first country to have entire regions declared free of the disease,” he said. “Today, however, it is the largest increase in the world”.