This year’s World Malaria Report reflects on gains made — but calls for further action as other threats arise.

The 2024 World Malaria Report, released today by the World Health Organization, estimates that 2.2 billion cases and 12.7 million deaths have been averted since 2000. While some gains have been made — including in India, defined as a high-burden country — this progress has not been matched across many other high-burden countries and is underscored by the need for accelerated, data-driven action and renewed funding commitments to bridge persistent gaps in malaria care and elimination efforts.

As of 2023, 44 countries and one territory were certified as malaria-free. Yet, global malaria cases grew by 11 million compared to the previous year, with Nigeria and Ethiopia seeing their largest increases in malaria mortality since 2015. Of the 597,000 deaths reported in 2023, 95 percent remain concentrated in African countries and 76 percent of those occurred among children under five.

The report calls for increased political commitment and greater funding to accelerate action towards concrete measures and to get global targets back on track.

Malaria Consortium’s Chief Executive, James Tibenderana, commented, “Optimal use of existing financing is critical along with the development of resilient financing which involves philanthropy and the private sector. We cannot afford to let the foot off the pedal at this time, when the convergence of insecticide and drug resistance could set progress back by decades. Malaria elimination is the only option.“

Funding for malaria reached just $4 billion in 2023, falling far short of the £8.3 billion target. This led to major gaps in coverage of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs), medicines and other life-saving tools — particularly in low- and middle-income countries, where communities feel the greatest impacts of these gaps.

Stronger surveillance and accurate data are critical to respond to key challenges, including emerging drug and parasite resistance, new malaria vectors, humanitarian emergencies and climate threats. Addressing surveillance gaps has proved to be an integral part of Cambodia’s success in reducing recorded case numbers to just 34 in 2023. A streamlined, coordinated response between organisations including Malaria Consortium, the Cambodian government and mobile malaria workers has enabled activities targeted to locations and individuals based on evolving data, as well as facilitating better decision-making, ensuring that resource allocation is aligned with the countries’ operational plans.

Supporting global efforts to address existing gaps, several encouraging trends in innovations saw malaria mortality plateau last year. In total, 17 countries launched malaria vaccines as part of their immunisation programmes, leveraging the strength of established delivery platforms to ensure that children have access to this life-saving intervention. Integrating health services to maximise resources and coverage will continue to play a vital role in ensuring that no one is left behind.

“The realities of growing insecticide and drug resistance, changing malaria geographies as a result of climate change, and well as increased constraints on resources and funding, pose significant risks to the progress made so far in reducing the burden of malaria towards elimination. However coordinated strategies, including new technologies such as the malaria vaccines, offer the opportunity for continued advancement. By layering interventions meaningfully, integrating services to best reach communities, leveraging best practices, and coordinating and collaborating across partners, we can amplify the impact of all available tools to drive progress towards malaria elimination in Africa”, says Katherine Theiss-Nyland Malaria Consortium’s Technical Director.

Such layering of interventions has proved to be effective with large-scale delivery platforms like seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC), which consistently achieves high coverage. Globally, 53 million children were reached with SMC in 2023 — with Malaria Consortium reaching almost half of that total — and two new countries added this established intervention to their malaria programmes. Alongside these interventions, next generation insecticide-treated nets are directly responding to emerging parasite resistance to insecticides, as Malaria Consortium’s work in Nigeria is exploring.

Investment in robust data systems is also important to address issues relating to equitable access to healthcare. The report makes specific mention of significant gaps in the availability of comprehensive disaggregated data. There is a need to strengthen the collection and analysis of such data to ensure subnationally tailored strategies and solutions address the needs of those most at risk of malaria — women, young girls, children under five, and marginalised, mobile and displaced communities. Countries must adopt strategies that address the root causes of malaria by addressing gender inequities and other socioeconomic determinants of health.