Fosun helps world fight malaria

Chinese pharmaceutical company Fosun Pharma has supplied more than 200 million doses of anti-malaria drugs to the international society since 2005 to help with the world's malaria elimination efforts, the company said on Sunday, which marked World Malaria Day.

In Africa, where malaria is still a major health threat, Fosun has been a main anti-malaria treatment supplier in more than 30 countries and regions for the past few years. Their products include those for malaria prevention, treatment, and critical case treatment.

The company said that its innovative anti-malaria drug, the artesunate injection, has saved more than 40 million critical malaria patients in Africa, most of whom are children aged under 5.

Statistics from the World Health Organization website showed that 225 million malaria cases and 409,000 malaria-related deaths were reported in 87 countries and regions in 2019. Children aged below 5 in the regions south of the Sahara Desert accounted for roughly two-thirds of the total deaths due to the disease in the world.

Wu Yifang, chairman and CEO of Fosun Pharma, said that the company has long viewed fighting malaria as a social responsibility.

"In the future, Fosun Pharma will continue its innovative efforts to help eliminate malaria in Africa and to build a community with a common destiny in health," he said.

With the advancement of public health globally, the number of countries that reported fewer than 100 malaria cases from 2000 to 2019 had increased from six to 27.

China has not had a malaria case since August 2016.