The malaria challenge

Baby with malaria. Photo credit: karlgrobl.com Every year up to 225 million people are affected by malaria and nearly 800,000 die from it. Most people affected live in sub-Saharan Africa, one of the world’s poorest regions. Children and pregnant women are most at risk with one African child dying from malaria every 45 seconds. Beyond the human toll, malaria consumes nearly half of public health expenditure in endemic countries and costs billions of dollars a year in lost productivity.

But this disease is preventable and curable if treated promptly with effective medicines. We are committed to stopping this disease. Our endeavours include research and development for a vaccine to protect children in endemic communities, new drugs to treat infections plus vital community education and advocacy programmes.

Many of those living in endemic areas don’t realise how the disease is spread, or that it can be prevented. They believe local myths – that it is caused by too much exposure to the sun, eating too many mangoes or by possession of evil spirits. By educating people about malaria we can significantly improve prevention, encourage prompt treatment and reduce the number of people affected by the disease.