World Malaria Day - April 25, 2011

The theme of World Malaria Day 2011, Achieving Progress and Impact, highlights the successes of the past decade, as well as remaining challenges to achieving near zero deaths by 2015.

Five years ago, malaria killed nearly one million people each year—most of them children. In Africa alone, the burden of the disease cost the continent $12 billion a year in lost productivity.

Today, the U.S. helps save nearly 150,000 lives every year. In seven of the original 15 Presidential Malaria Initiative (PMI) countries, there have been reductions in all-cause child mortality by as much as 36 percent. These reductions are due in large part to a dramatic scale-up of malaria prevention and treatment measures since 2005, thanks to the collective efforts of national governments; the U.S. Government; the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; the World Bank; other international donors; and multilateral and nongovernmental organizations.

This support is not only preventing children from dying from malaria, but also freeing up hospital beds and scarce medical resources that can be used to prevent children from dying from other causes.