Kyrgyzstan received the World Health Organization (WHO) certification of malaria elimination on November 4. Countries that maintain locally-acquired malaria cases at zero for at least three consecutive years are eligible to apply for certification of malaria elimination the WHO, its website reported. Globally, a total of 32 countries and territories have received this WHO certification, including 19 countries in the European region. A declining trend has been noted in the number of malaria cases in Iran in the past few years, and in 2009, the WHO malaria report announced Iran was in the pre-elimination phase. According to figures released in February 2016 other countries in the elimination phase were Azerbaijan, Oman, Georgia, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.
