World Malaria Day 2011: Achieving Progress and Impact

  1. Progress and Impact Achieved:
    • In 2010 malaria prevention efforts saved 485 children’s lives in Africa every day.
    • The last decade has seen over one third of malaria endemic countries successfully cut malaria cases by 50% or more.
    • Global malaria deaths dropped by over 20% between 2000-2009.
  2. Remaining Malaria Burden:
    • Malaria continues to kill more young children than any other single disease, claiming the life of a child every 45 seconds.
    • Every year, over 780,000 people die from malaria. More than 90% of these deaths are in Africa. Yet malaria is preventable and treatable. Every life lost is needless.
  3. Action needed:
    • Increased, predictable and sustained funding critical in continuing to save lives and sutain current gains–we will backslide if momentum is lost.
    • Improved access to malaria prevention, accurate diagnostics and appropriate treatment–saving lives and reducing the risk of drug resistance.
    • Further investment in research and development of new tools
  4. Potential Impact:
    • Malaria control is a highly cost-effective child health intervention, representing one of today’s best investments in global health.
    • We can save the lives of 3 million children by 2015 with universal malaria prevention coverage in Africa alone.
    • The landmark 2015 goal of near zero deaths from malaria can be achieved with sustained investment in proven interventions along with research and devleopment of new tools.