A new report from WHO says the world risks lose the fight against malaria, as cases rose by around 5m year-on-year in 2022, exceeding global targets to contain it.
While pandemic-related disruptions and extreme weather events linked to climate change have hindered the fight, progress, since 2015, had already stalled due to rising drug and insecticide resistance and conflict, the WHO’s annual World Malaria Report said.
Peter Sands, executive director of the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, said the report showed that progress had not only ground to a halt, “but in some places is reversing”.
“Unless we take action now, malaria could resurge dramatically, wiping out the hard-won gains of the past two decades.”
Reuters reports that in 2022, there were an estimated 249m cases of malaria. At the same time, the global malaria case incidence was 58.4 cases per 1 000 people deemed to be at risk, versus the WHO’s target of 26.2 cases by 2025.
Progress towards the 2025 milestone is 55% off track, and will be missed by 89% this year if the trajectory persists.
Malaria deaths declined steadily between 2000 and 2019, from 864 000 to 576 000, and then rose during the pandemic. Around 608 000 people died of the disease last year, mainly children.
Two new malaria vaccines, both of which are due to be available next year, provide some hope.
But the report also showed a significant funding gap in the response. While $4.1bn was invested in the global effort to tackle malaria in 2022, roughly $7.8bn was needed, it said.
world malaria report 2023
Reuters article – World at risk of losing malaria fight as cases rise, report says (Open access)
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