Photo by Anoeskha B on Unsplash (illustrative)
On 30 June 2025, the World Health Organization certified Suriname as malaria-free, the first country in the Amazon region to reach the milestone. It followed nearly 70 years of work by the small South American nation to end the disease across its rainforest and remote mining areas.
Key facts
In 2001, Suriname recorded more than 15,000 malaria cases, then the highest transmission rate in the Americas.
The last local case of Plasmodium falciparum malaria was in 2018, and the last Plasmodium vivax case was in 2021.
Health workers recruited from mining communities brought testing and treatment to remote sites.
Suriname's certification brought the total to 46 countries and one territory, including 12 in the Americas.
Why it matters
The Amazon is one of the hardest places on Earth to fight malaria, with dense forest, mobile workers and porous borders. Suriname shows elimination is possible there when care reaches everyone, including migrants.
Worth noting
Certification means at least three years without local transmission, not zero risk. Suriname has to keep up screening, including at border crossings, so that imported cases do not restart spread.