Why

WHO reports that in 2024 there were 579 000 malaria deaths in Africa which accounted for 95% of deaths globally. Just over 75% of all deaths in the region are of children aged under 5 years.

Between 2015 and 2024, malaria incidence increased by 8.5%. From 2023 to 2024, the incidence of malaria rose from 62.7 to 64.0 cases per 1000 population at risk.

Africa accounted for 94% of cases and 95% of deaths in 2024.

The increase was driven by growing antimalarial drug resistance and widespread insecticide resistance, suboptimal delivery of interventions, limited access to quality care, gaps in surveillance, conflict and widespread disruption of health Environmental changes, such as shifting rainfall patterns and extreme weather events. Financial constraints, including underfunding, further limited the scale and quality of malaria control programmes.

Malaria places the most significant health burden on LMICs, but the other vector-borne diseases should never be forgotten: Yellow fever, dengue, lymphatic filariasis, amongst many others.

Why do LMICs continue to suffer the blight of vector-borne diseases when they have largely been eliminated in North America, Europe and China? These diseases are entirely preventable. It is simply unacceptable that such human damage and suffering is being allowed to continue. And in what can only be considered the ultimate act of injustice, it is being inflicted most heavily on the under fives…