World Malaria Day, 25 April 2020

World Malaria Day falls on 25 April 2020. The World Health Organisation (WHO) joins the RBM Partnership to End Malaria in promoting ‘Zero malaria starts with me’, a grassroots campaign which aims to keep malaria high on the political agenda, mobilise additional resources and empower communities to take ownership of malaria prevention and care.

Between 2000 and 2014, the number of malaria-related deaths fell by 40% worldwide, from an estimated 743,000 to 446,000. However, in recent years, progress has stalled and according to the WHO World Malaria Report 2019, there were no global gains in reducing new infections over the period 2014 to 2018 and nearly as many people died from the disease in 2018 as the year before.

The ‘Zero malaria’ campaign aims to engage all members of society, including political leaders who control government policy decisions and budgets, private sector companies that will benefit from a malaria-free workforce and communities affected by malaria, whose buy-in and ownership of malaria control interventions is critical to success.

Source: WHO, April 2020