The Reality of Malaria

• Malaria kills over 1 million people each year, about 3000 people a day
• In the time it takes for you to say the word "malaria", ten children will contract the disease
• Malaria kills a child every 30 seconds and over 700,000 children under five will die needlessly from malaria this year
• Nine out of ten cases of malaria occur in sub-Saharan Africa
• Almost 300 million people suffer from acute malaria each year
• 40 % of the world’s population live in areas with malaria risk
• Infants born to mothers with malaria are more likely to have low birth weight – the single greatest risk factor for death during the first months of life. Surviving children may face impaired development

The Hidden Costs of Malaria

• Africa’s GDP would be up to $100 billion greater today if malaria had been eliminated thirty-five years ago.
• In Africa, malaria continues to slow down growth by more than 1% a year
• Malaria-endemic countries are among the world’s most impoverished
• A malaria-stricken family spends an average of over one quarter of its income on malaria treatment, as well as paying prevention costs and suffering loss of income
• Malaria impairs learning in children living in endemic areas, and is a major cause of school absenteeism

The Challenge

• The cheapest anti-malaria drug – chloroquine – is rapidly losing its effectiveness in many endemic countries. In some parts of the world, malaria is resistant to the four leading front-line drugs
• Malaria, for long seen as a consequence of poverty, is also a major cause of poverty and its prevention is an important part of poverty alleviation
• Health systems’ failure, drug resistance, population movement, deteriorating sanitation, climatic changes and unplanned development activities contribute to the spread of malaria

Malaria – Preventable, Treatable and Curable

• The universal use of insecticide-treated bed-nets can reduce episodes of illness by 50 % in areas of high transmission, yet fewer than 2 % of African children sleep under a net
• Recent studies have shown that the lives of some 500,000 African children might be saved each year if mosquito nets treated with a pyrethroid insecticide were widely and correctly used.
• A reduction of taxes and tariffs for mosquito nets and other commodities such as insecticides and anti-malarial drugs will make malaria control strategies more affordable and accessible
• High level political commitment and mobilization of resources is required to apply the effective tools, medicines and control strategies already available, through the improvement of health systems, disease management and prevention, and preparedness and response to epidemics
• Much could be achieved through the better use of existing malaria control tools. In countries with multidrug resistant malaria, the use of combination drugs will have a major impact on treatment