April 25, 2017 – (Geneva, Switzerland)

The World Health Organization’s 2016 World Malaria Report launched on 13 December, highlighted the continued progress in the malaria fight, particularly for the most vulnerable. Since 2000, malaria deaths rates have fallen by more than 62 percent – and by 69 percent among children under 5 – saving 6.8 million lives. In the same period, 17 countries have successfully eliminated malaria entirely. The 2020 target of eliminating malaria in 10 more countries is within reach.

SOUND BITES

• The malaria fight is one of the most inspiring global health stories of our time.

• No child should have to die from a mosquito bite, yet malaria still kills a child every two minutes.

• The push to end malaria is saving millions of lives, increasing attendance at school, improving worker productivity and boosting local economies.

• Ending malaria will help build a healthier and more secure world.

• We can be the generation that ends malaria – one of the oldest and deadliest diseases in human history.

Since 1998, the Roll Back Malaria Partnership (RBM) – hosted by the World Health Organization (WHO) – has been central to the global fight against malaria. The past fifteen years have seen tremendous gains in reducing the burden of disease and progressing towards malaria elimination. According to the World Malaria Report 2015, released on 9 December 2015, more than half (57) of the 106 countries with malaria in 2000 had achieved reductions in new malaria cases of at least 75% by 2015. In that same time frame, 18 countries reduced their malaria cases by 50-75%.

En 1998, alors que le paludisme faisait un million de victimes chaque année et touchait des centaines de millions de personnes à travers le monde, le Partenariat Roll Back Malaria (RBM) a été était fondé dans le but de réduire de moitié la charge de morbidité, objectif qui sera atteint d’ici 2015. La lutte contre le paludisme est depuis devenue l'une des plus grandes réussites dans le domaine de la santé mondiale et du développement : plus de six millions de décès dus au paludisme ont été évités depuis 2000, dont 97 % auraient coûté la vie à des enfants de moins de cinq ans.