Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan successfully interrupted malaria transmission in 2013, meeting its national goal laid out in the 2008–2013 strategic plan. Now the country focusses on preventing malaria re-introduction. In 2015 the national strategy for prevention of malaria reintroduction for the years 2015–2020 was adopted.

Over the course of 1997–2013, as a result of large-scale epidemic control interventions, the malaria situation in the country continued to improve, and in 2013 zero locally-acquired cases were reported in the country. 

The disease was endemic over a vast portion of territory until the 1960s, when mass malaria eradication efforts carried out across the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics led to its near disappearance. By 1967, the country had only 3 registered cases of indigenous malaria. Nevertheless, 2 extensive malaria epidemics broke out in the 1970s and 1980s. Rapid responses from a well-functioning health care system brought them under control.

The malaria situation began to deteriorate again at the beginning of the 1990s. In 1993–1994, the number of malaria cases increased from 23 to 667, and the number of malaria cases reached 13 135 by 1996. This was largely due to worsening socioeconomic conditions, changes in agricultural practices and the seasonal migration of agricultural workers, as well as the mass displacement of nearly 1 million people by armed conflict. In 1997, mudslides throughout the Kura-Araz and Lenkoran lowlands aggravated the situation, as mosquito-breeding sites increased dramatically. Over the course of 1997–2011, as a result of large-scale epidemic control interventions, the malaria situation in the country continued to improve, and in 2011 4 locally acquired cases only were reported in the country.

Malaria vectors in Azerbaijan include Anopheles maculipennis (the Caucasus), An. sacharovi (Kura-Araksin and Lenkoran lowlands) and An. persiensis (Lenkoran lowland, in areas bordering the Islamic Republic of Iran).