"After 70 years of efforts, China has received a WHO certificate that it is free of malaria, an outstanding feat for a country that in the 1940s reported 30 million cases of this disease annually," the WHO said in a statement released on Wednesday.
For his part, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted that China has achieved success through hard work, only after decades of purposeful and constant actions.
"With this announcement, China joins a growing number of countries that are demonstrating to the world that a malaria-free future is a viable goal," the head of the WHO is quoted in the message.
According to the organization, over the past 30 years, China has become the first country in the Western Pacific region to receive such a certificate.
It is noted that a total of 40 countries have a WHO certificate on the absence of malaria, among those who recently became its holders are El Salvador (2021), Argentina (2019) and Uzbekistan (2018).