World malaria report: Africa still accounts for bulk of cases and deaths

November 30, 2020

Africa, Headlines

4 Comments

Today, the World Health Organization released the World malaria report 2020, which provides a detailed analysis of progress against the mosquito-borne disease.

Here are some of the trends in burden:

Globally, there were an estimated 229 million malaria cases in 2019 in 87 malaria endemic countries, declining from 238 million in 2000.

Twenty-nine countries accounted for 95% of malaria cases globally. Nigeria (27%), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (12%), Uganda (5%), Mozambique (4%) and Niger (3%) accounted for about 51% of all cases globally.

The World Health Organization (WHO) African Region, with an estimated 215 million cases in 2019, accounted for about 94% of cases.

India contributed to the largest absolute reductions in the WHO South-East Asia Region, from about 20 million cases in 2000 to about 5.6 million in 2019. Sri Lanka was certified malaria free in 2015, and Timor-Leste reported zero malaria cases in 2018 and 2019.

Globally, malaria deaths have reduced steadily over the period 2000–2019, from 736,000 in 2000 to 409,000 in 2019. The percentage of total malaria deaths among children aged under 5 years was 84% in 2000 and 67% in 2019.

About 95% of malaria deaths globally were in 31 countries. Nigeria (23%), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (11%), the United Republic of Tanzania (5%), Mozambique (4%), Niger (4%) and Burkina Faso (4%) accounted for about 51% of all malaria deaths globally in 2019.

Read more at World malaria report 2020