World Malaria Day, 25 April 2018

Each year the World Health Organization (WHO) highlights World Malaria Day as a way of getting a key message out about malaria. This year the key message is: ‘Ready to beat malaria’.

The main points of this key message are:

• There continues to be a commitment within the global malaria community to make the world malaria free.
• The 2017 World Malaria report highlights areas where great progress has been made towards eradication whilst also showing areas where disease has worsened.
• Current progress is insufficient to meet the 2020 goal of 40% reduction in malaria incidence and death rates.

Countries with on-going transmission fall into two categories:

• Those heading towards elimination.
• Those with a high burden of disease and significant increases in disease.

The WHO is also calling for greater investment in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of malaria.