Malaria Facts

Malaria is little known in the United States since it has not troubled our country for roughly 60 years. As you can see from the video above, there are a whole range of answers as to what malaria is.  Unfortunately, this disease still afflicts countless numbers of people around the world. 

Malaria is a disease of the blood and is transmitted from person to person by certain types of mosquitoes.  Typically, individuals bitten by these mosquitoes begin experiencing symptoms between 9 and 14 days later, which include fever, headache, vomiting and other flu-like symptoms. 

If drugs are not available for treatment or if the parasites are resistant to them, the infection can lead to coma, severe life-threatening anemia, and death by infecting and destroying red blood cells and by clogging the capillaries that carry blood to the brain (cerebral malaria) or other vital organs. Worldwide, malaria causes approximately 250 million illnesses and approximately 881,000 deaths per year. 85 percent of these deaths are in children under 5, and 89% of all malaria deaths occur in Africa. 

But there is good news.  We are making important gains across Africa where investment has been robust. 

Using available tools (bed nets, indoor spraying, preventive treatment for pregnant women and ACT treatment), 25 countries globally have reduced malaria deaths by more than 50%, including four in Africa.

After years of stagnant and increasing child deaths, recent data show a 28% drop in the under-5 mortality rate over the previous 7 years. WHO and UNICEF attribute much of this progress to the significant scale up of malaria control interventions.

  • Approximately 125,000 children under 5 in 10 African countries have been saved due to malaria interventions between 2001 and 2007.
  • Following Zambia's expansive malaria control program, malaria incidence dropped 50% and all-cause child mortality decreased by 35%.
  • In Rwanda, child malaria cases declined by 64% and child deaths from malaria dropped by 66%.