On April 25th people across the globe take part in a wide range of activities to mark World Malaria Day. For half the world every day is malaria day - a day to keep up the fight against this killer disease.
The World Malaria Day theme from 2013 – 2015 is ‘Invest in the future, defeat malaria’. The theme provides a common platform for countries to showcase their successes in malaria control and unify diverse initiatives in the changing global context. Malaria-endemic countries have made incredible gains in malaria in the last decade, but sustaining them will take extra efforts until the job is finished and malaria is eliminated worldwide.
At least three quarters of malaria deaths occur in children under 5. Yet in 2013, only about 1 in 5 African children with malaria received effective treatment for the disease, 15 million pregnant women did not receive a single dose of the recommended preventive drugs, and an estimated 278 million people in Africa still live in households without a single insecticide-treated bednet.
“We must take the malaria fight to the next level. Moving towards elimination will require high-level political commitment and robust financing, including substantial new investments in disease surveillance, health systems strengthening and research,” says Dr Pedro Alonso, Director of the WHO Global Malaria Programme. “In addition, we urgently need new tools to tackle emerging drug and insecticide resistance, as well as innovative approaches that will accelerate progress.”