Deaths from malaria have returned to pre-Covid levels, but the World Health Organization (WHO) says progress remains too slow in fighting a disease that killed 597,000 people last year.
In a report released on Wednesday, the WHO estimates there were 263 million cases of malaria worldwide in 2023 – 11 million more than the previous year.
It also found that the death toll remained relatively stable. In terms of the overall mortality rate, “we have come back to pre-pandemic numbers”, according to Arnaud Le Menach, of the WHO’s Global Malaria Programme.
In 2020, disruptions caused by the Covid pandemic led to a sharp increase in malaria-related mortality, with an additional 55,000 deaths counted that year.
Since then the total number of deaths from the disease – which is caused by a mosquito-borne parasite – has gradually shrunk, as has the mortality rate.
Why is malaria so difficult to combat?
However, the estimated 2023 mortality rate in Africa of 52 deaths per 100,000 population still remains more than double the target set by a global strategy for combatting malaria through 2030. The WHO is insisting that “progress must be accelerated”.
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