In 2015, there were an estimated 214 million new cases of malaria, while about 438,000 people died of the disease.
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Fifteen years ago, an estimated 262,000,000 malaria cases resulted in almost 840,000 deaths, a lot of them children under five, the document said.
Malaria deaths worldwide have fallen by 60 per cent since 2000, the United Nations said on Thursday, with improved diagnostic tests and the massive distribution of mosquito nets aiding dramatic progress against the disease. In 2015, 89% of all malaria cases and 91% of deaths were in sub-Saharan Africa. Officials say Africa continues to lag substantially behind other regions of the world in eradicating the disease.
The lives of 6.2m people, mostly children, have been saved since 2000 and a target to cut deaths has been met “convincingly”, it said. “You either surge ahead or you sink”, she said, noting that children under five still make up the overwhelming majority of malaria victims.
Some 68 percent of malaria cases over the past 15 years were stopped by ITNs, according to a separate Oxford University study. ‘We’ve shown these cheap and effective control measures have made a huge dent in African malaria but this is no time for triumphalism – what’s needed now is a redoubling of efforts to get the job done’. “Malaria kills mostly young children, especially those living in the poorest and most remote places”, UNICEF executive director Anthony Lake said.
It added that domestic investments within malaria-affected countries have also increased year by year.
The 20-fold increase in funding led to the expansion of interventions across malaria-infected countries. The report which was published in the journal Nature revealed that the number of overall infections fell by 50 percent across the continent, BBC reports.
Malaria is among the health issues that threaten the community. This is followed by Artemisinin-based combination therapies and indoor residual spraying, contributing to the prevention of malaria cases since 2000. The study evaluated 1,268 dams in sub-Saharan Africa with approximately two-thirds located within areas with high malaria infection rates. However, the most recent report has warned that to achieve this goal, funding for the cause will have to triple-from $2.7 billion today to $8.7 billion in 2030.
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The report “Achieving the Malaria MDG Target” will be launched on 17 September at 13h00 in the House of Commons in London, United Kingdom.
