Malaria Facts

Malaria kills nearly one million people each year; eighty-five percent are children under 5.
Source: WHO World Malaria Report, 2008

More than 2,000 children under 5 ─ or one child every 40 seconds ─ die from malaria each day.
Source: UNICEF State of the World’s Children, 2008

Malaria is the fourth leading cause of child deaths worldwide and second leading cause of child deaths in Sub- Saharan Africa.
Source: UNICEF State of the World’s Children, 2008

Malaria infects an estimated 250 million people each year. Source: WHO World Malaria Report, 2008
Approximately 50 million women become pregnant each year in malaria-endemic areas and the disease
contributes to around one quarter of severe maternal anemia cases. Source: UNICEF State of the World’s Children, 2008

The most common malaria species in Africa, Plasmodium falciparum, is estimated to cause as many as 10,000 maternal deaths each year and eight percent to 14 percent of all low birth weight babies.
Source: WHO Malaria in Pregnancy

Malaria is a prime cause of low birth weight in newborns, anemia, and infant deaths. Source: UNICEF State of the World’s Children, 2008

The protective effect of insecticide-treated bed nets has the potential to prevent as many as one million deaths from all causes for children under 5 in sub-Saharan Africa.
Source: CDC Malaria Vector Control

Roll Back Malaria: The Cochrane Collaboration AJTMH 68(Suppl 4), 2003 pp. 23-29
Malaria has been estimated to cost Africa more than $ 12 billion every year in lost GDP, even though it could be controlled for a fraction of that sum.
Source: UN RBM Malaria in Africa

Approximately 50 percent of the world’s population is at risk of contracting malaria. Most of those at risk live
in the world’s poorest countries.
Source: WHO World Malaria Report, 2008

In some countries with a very heavy malaria burden, malaria may account for as much as 40 percent of public
health expenditures, 30-50 percent of inpatient admissions and up to 60 percent of outpatient visits. Source: WHO Malaria

An estimated 57 percent of malaria deaths are attributable to undernutrition. Source: WFP World Hunger Series, 2007

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