Suriname became the first Amazonian country ever certified malaria-free

After nearly 70 years of work, the WHO certified Suriname malaria-free — the first country in the Amazon region to achieve it. The turning point came when health workers stopped trying to spray every house and instead trained local people in remote mining and forest communities to diagnose and treat malaria fast. Suriname's last local case was in 2021, and its success is now guiding the rest of the Guiana Shield.