Malaria is a life-threatening mosquito-borne blood disease World Malaria Day 2019 “Zero malaria starts with me” After more than a decade of steady advances in fighting malaria, progress has levelled off.  According to WHO’s latest World malaria report, no significant gains were made in reducing malaria cases in the period 2015 to 2017. The estimated number of malaria deaths in 2017, at 435 000, remained virtually unchanged over the previous year. The theme of this years World Malaria Day aims to reduce the number of deaths caused by malaria which were decreasing. World Health Organisation Director explaining the aims: https://youtu.be/g9WIfT2-AU4 What is malaria? Malaria is a life-threatening mosquito-borne blood disease

World Malaria Day 2019 Malaria vaccine pilot launched in Malawi World Health Organisation welcomes the Government of Malawi’s launch of the world’s first malaria vaccine today in a landmark pilot programme. The country is the first of three in Africa in which the vaccine, known as RTS,S, will be made available to children up to 2 years of age; Ghana and Kenya will introduce the vaccine in the coming weeks. Malaria remains one of the world’s leading killers, claiming the life of one child every two minutes. Most of these deaths are in Africa, where more than 250 000 children die from the disease every year. Children under 5 are at greatest risk of its life-threatening complications. Worldwide, malaria kills 435 000 people a year, most of them children. “We have seen tremendous gains from bed nets and other measures to control malaria in the last 15 years, but progress has stalled and even reversed in some areas. We need new solutions to get the malaria response back on track, and this vaccine gives us a promising tool to get there,” said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “The malaria vaccine has the potential to save tens of thousands of children’s lives.”

World Malaria Day 2019 The day focuses on raising awareness of malaria and the need for treated nets, vaccines and community support.