New Malaria Tools Save 1 Million Lives But Progress Under Threat, Says WHO

The World Health Organisation (WHO) annual World Malaria Report has revealed that new malaria tools, including dual-ingredient nets and vaccines, prevented an estimated 170 million cases and one million deaths in 2024.

The WHO disclosed this on its official X on Thursday.

It further noted that since its first approval of the world’s first malaria vaccines in 2021, 24 countries have introduced the vaccines into their routine immunisation programmes. Seasonal malaria chemoprevention has also been expanded and is now being implemented in 20 countries, reaching 54 million children in 2024, an increase from about 0.2 million in 2012.

WHO said it has certified 47 countries and one territory malaria-free in within 2024 and 2025, but lamented that despite the significant progress, there were an estimated 282 million malaria cases and 610,000 deaths in 2024 – roughly 9 million more cases than the previous year.

It further pointed out that antimalarial drug resistance is still growing and stands in the way of achieving malaria elimination, stressing that an estimated 95 per cent of the malaria deaths were in the WHO African Region, with most occurring among children under 5 years of age.

“New tools for the prevention of malaria are giving us new hope, but we still face significant challenges. Increasing numbers of cases and deaths, the growing threat of drug resistance and the impact of funding cuts all threaten to roll back the progress we have made over the past two decades.

“However, none of these challenges is insurmountable. With the leadership of the most-affected countries and targeted investment, the vision of a malaria-free world remains achievable,” WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus said.

According WHO, the World Malaria Report spotlights evidence on partial resistance to artemisinin derivatives, which became the backbone of malaria treatments after failures of chloroquine and sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine.

It added that antimalarial drug resistance has now been confirmed or suspected in at least 8 countries in Africa, and there are potential signs of declining efficacy of the drugs that are combined with artemisinin.

It further emphasised that this year’s report underscores a growing array of risks to malaria elimination efforts in addition to the threat of antimalarial drug resistance.

The WHO warned that malaria parasites with pfhrp2 gene deletions remain prevalent, undermining the reliability of rapid diagnostic tests, while confirmed pyrethroid resistance in 48 countries is reducing the effectiveness of insecticide-treated nets.

It noted that at the same time, Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes, which are resistant to many commonly used insecticides, have now invaded 9 African countries, posing a serious challenge to urban malaria control efforts.

It also pointed out that, beyond biological threats, extreme weather events are also contributing to increased outbreaks of malaria, adding that changes in temperature and rainfall are altering habitats for mosquitoes and thus transmission patterns.

WHO further highlighted conflict and instability in affected regions as the leading cause of widespread disruptions of health services, limiting access to care and delaying timely diagnosis and treatment.

The global health leader called for increased investment in malaria response and urgently addressing drug resistance and health system weaknesses. It also urged malaria-endemic countries to sustain their political commitments to ending malaria deaths.

“The World Malaria Report is clear: drug resistance is advancing. Our response must be equally clear – new medicines with new mechanisms of action. The development of the first non-artemisinin combination therapy, Ganaplacide–Lumefantrine, is proof that this is possible, and it represents the beginning of a new chapter in malaria resilience.

“Together with a global partnership of expertise, commitment and funding, we can stay ahead of resistance and deliver new medicines to ensure malaria is no longer a threat,” Dr Martin Fitchet, CEO of Medicines for Malaria Venture, advised.