Overview
- The WHO estimates 282 million malaria cases and about 610,000 deaths worldwide in 2024, a slight rise from 2023.
- Roughly 95% of deaths occurred in the African Region, with most involving children under five, and five countries—DRC, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Nigeria and Uganda—accounted for over half of cases.
- Global spending reached $3.9 billion in 2024 against a need exceeding $9 billion, and the figures precede 2025 aid cuts that WHO says have already constrained programs.
- WHO highlights mounting technical threats, including confirmed or suspected antimalarial resistance in at least eight African countries, pyrethroid resistance reported in 48 countries, pfhrp2 gene deletions undermining rapid tests, and the urban mosquito Anopheles stephensi now present in nine African countries.
- New tools are delivering partial gains, with WHO-recommended vaccines introduced in 24 countries and estimated to have prevented 170 million cases and one million deaths in 2024, even as some countries such as Ethiopia, Madagascar and Yemen recorded case surges.