Although there has been many successful results in the global fight against malaria over the past few decades, the disease is still rampant in 108 countries across the world, stated the World Health Organisation (WHO) in its 2009 report on malaria.

According to the report, more than one-third of the 108 worst affected countries confirmed that they had recorded a reduction in the number of malaria cases by more than 50 percent in 2008 compared to 2000.
The WHO’s Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan described the figures as cause for cautious optimism but said that much still remains to be done, especially in Africa and countries with high numbers of malaria cases. Up to 863,000 people died out of 243 million cases of malaria around the world last year, Chan warned, underlining that 90 percent of them were in Africa.


On the occasion, the WHO called on the international community to continue contributing to a fund to eliminate the disease. The increase in international funding commitments (1.7 billion USD in 2009 compared to 730 million USD in 2006) has enabled a dramatic increase in the number of interventions to control malaria in several countries. However, the amount of available funds still fall short of the 5 billion USD required annually for the purchase of mosquito nets, medicines and other necessities./.