His Majesty King Letsie III on Thursday left the country to attend the launch of Eswatini Malaria Elimination Fund to be held in Eswatini.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Relations, Mr. Lesego Makgothi in an interview, saying His Majesty has been invited by His Majesty King Mswati III of Eswatini who is also the Champion of Malaria in Africa.
Mr. Makgothi said His Majesty Mswati III launch the Control Malaria in African continent in African Union last year, saying this is his third event as the Malaria Champion. He added that it is at this meeting that countries and Heads of States will work together to discuss and identify ways on how best Malaria could be controlled in Africa.
He said Africa is mostly affected by Malaria, commenting that  over 20,000 people die of Malaria on annual basis. He however said the good news is that there is a new vaccine which was recently found, which he noted will also be launched.
His Majesty King Mswati III was elected the Malaria Champion by African Union (AU) in January 2017, succeeding the President of Chad Mr. Idriss Deby Itno.
According to World Health Organisation (WHO) report, Eswatini is one of three Southern African countries on track to eliminate Malaria by 2020 as this country has made a significant progress in scaling up Malaria control interventions leading to a significant reduction in Malaria burden in Eswatini.
Eswatini is the first country in African continent to introduce Malaria elimination scorecard to enhance tracking, accountability and action towards Malaria elimination.
WHO shows that Malaria is still a top killer of children worldwide, but children in Africa are most affected.
His Majesty’s delegation includes Her Majesty Queen ‘Masenate Mohato Seeiso, Minister of Foreign Affiairs and International Relations, Senior Private Secretary to His Majesty, Chief of Protocol, Protocol Officer to His Majesty as well as the Deputy Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Relations. The entourage will return on Sunday.
 
Source: LENA 30/05/2019