The World Health Organization on 30 June certified Suriname as malaria-free, making it the first country in the Amazon basin – and the 46th worldwide – to eliminate indigenous transmission of the mosquito-borne disease. The designation follows nearly seven decades of sustained control measures launched in the 1950s, including indoor insecticide spraying, widespread diagnostic testing and free treatment across coastal and interior regions. Suriname documented its last locally transmitted case of Plasmodium falciparum malaria in 2018 and of Plasmodium vivax in 2021, meeting WHO’s requirement of at least three consecutive years without domestic infection. The campaign intensified after cases peaked above 15,000 in 2001, when gold-mining activities accelerated population movements within endemic zones. Expanded microscopy, rapid diagnostic tests and artemisinin-based therapies, financed partly by the Global Fund and coordinated through the Amazon Malaria Initiative, underpinned the turnaround. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called the certification “a powerful affirmation” of universal access to care, while Pan American Health Organization head Jarbas Barbosa said it shows elimination is possible even in remote rain-forest settings. Health Minister Amar Ramadhin said the achievement will bolster Suriname’s economy and tourism but warned that continuous surveillance is needed to prevent re-introduction of the parasite.