Published April 26, 2021, 3:25 PM A malaria-free Philippines by 2030. The Department of Health said this is the government’s target in the National Malaria Control and Elimination Program (NMCEP). DOH/MB “The COVID-19 pandemic may have impacted the delivery of services under our malaria elimination program, but this will not deter us from our vision of a malaria-free country,” Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said in a statement on Monday, April 26. Based on the World Health Organization (WHO) global malaria report, the Western Pacific Region had an estimated 1.7 million cases in 2019 with 52 percent reduction in the number of deaths in about two decades.