World Malaria Day

The majority of us will only think about malaria if we are fortunate  enough to be booking a holiday to somewhere exotic and check to see if  we need to get some anti-malaria medication from the doctor before we  go.

“On April 25th people across the globe will 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.”  -  worldmalariaday.org

Despite being both preventable and treatable, malaria still kills around  660,000 people each year. The most frequent victims are poor women  and children in Africa. Malaria continues to take a child's life every minute.

Here are some startling facts about malaria:

Cases, 2013:

• Globally: 198 million

Deaths, 2013:

• Globally: 584 000
• 90% of all malaria deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa.
• 78% occur in children under five.

Population at risk:

• 3.2 billion (half of the world population), of whom 1.2 billion are at  high risk.

Affected countries:

• In 2014, 97 countries had on-going malaria transmission.
• 80% of estimated malaria deaths occur in 18 most affected countries.
• About 40% of malaria deaths occur in just two countries: Nigeria and The Democratic Republic of the Congo.

World Malaria Day gives us all the opportunity to invest in the future to  defeat malaria. There is still much to be done to prevent, diagnose and treat malaria worldwide. It will take time but it is possible.

But right now, you can help us to make a difference to those fighting malaria every day.  Buy a mosquito net from our shop and we can give a family the gift of better protection from this killer disease.

Join the change that is happening:

Progress:

• The malaria mortality rate was reduced in 2000 – 2013
• Globally: by 47%
• in WHO African Region: by 54 %
• 55 countries are on track to reduce their malaria case incidence rates. 
• by 75%, in line with World Health Assembly and Roll Back Malaria.

targets for 2015:

• These 55 countries only account for 4% (8 million) of the total estimated malaria cases.
• 64 countries are on track to meet the Millennium Development Goal target of reversing the incidence of malaria (between 2000 and 2015).

Impact:

• Between 2001 and 2013, an estimated 4.2 million lives were saved as a result of a scale-up of malaria interventions.
• 97%, or 4.1 million, of these lives saved are in the under-five age group, in sub-Saharan Africa.

(Key facts from worldmalariaday.org)