CIDRAP

• Last year, about 70% of malaria cases and deaths were concentrated in 11 countries:  Ten are in Africa (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Uganda, and Tanzania), and the other is India.
• The 10 African nations had 3.5 million more malaria infections than in 2016
• India showed progress in reducing its disease burden.
• Possible reasons for the increase in vulnerable countries:  Major coverage gaps in use of insecticide-treated bed nets and other tools for preventing the mosquito-borne disease.
• WHO estimated that for 2017, half of Africa’s at-risk populations did not sleep under a treated bed net.  Fewer homes in the region were protected by indoor residual spraying and that use of therapies for protecting pregnant women and children from malaria was still too low.
• Funding for the global response has leveled off. For 2017, there was $3.1 billion for malaria control and elimination programs, 28% of it from the governments of malaria-endemic countries.
• The United States was still the single largest international donor, contributing $1.2 billion (39%) toward malaria efforts in 2017.
• At least $6.6 billion annually by 2020 is needed, which the WHO said is more than double the amount currently available.

Glimmers of progress elsewhere

• More countries are nearing malaria elimination. There were 46 in 2017, compared with 37 in 2010.
• China and El Salvador, two malaria-endemic countries, reported no local transmission in 2017
• This year, the WHO certified Paraguay as malaria-free, the first Americas country to achieve the status in 45 years.
• The WHO said three other countries have requested WHO malaria-free certification: Algeria, Argentina, and Uzbekistan.
• India reported a 24% reduction in cases for 2017 compared with the previous year.
• Other nations reporting declines in cases last year included Rwanda, Ethiopia, and Pakistan.