WHO reports that number of malaria cases has dropped by almost 50 million

Good news for the world as the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that both the number of malaria cases and deaths has fallen substantially since 2000.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The WHO's World Malaria Report showed that the population of Africa has boomed, growing by 43% since 2,000, but the number of people becoming infected with Malaria continues to decline.

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Africa, specifically sub-Saharan Africa, suffers the most from malaria. Of all malaria-related deaths in the world, 90% occur in that region.

In the last 13 years, the number of people infected by malaria has fallen from 173 million (in 2000) to just 128 million (in 2013). This is good news for children, says the Program Director of the WHO's Global Malaria program, Pedro Alonso, as children are the largest group of victims of the disease, which is often fatal to them.

"Mortality in children under five, the age group, which concentrates the biggest malaria problem in terms of severe disease and death, has reduced by a staggering 58%," he said.

"If we try to quantify the number of lives saved since 2000 up to 2014, we estimate that over four million deaths have been averted."

The WHO reveals that as of 2013, about half of the people who are at risk of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa have access to an insecticide-treated mosquito net, and a record 214 million more of these nets will be delivered to countries hard hit by malaria by the end of 2014.

More readily available rapid diagnostic tests and effective treatments are also improving survival and preventative-treatment rates, but there is still more work to be done, says Alonso.

"We also need to sustain a strong pipeline of research and development and innovation to develop new tools," he said.

"We face significant challenges . with the emergence and spread of artemisinin resistance, particularly in Southeast Asia. We need to tackle that problem and we can tackle it in bold ways . by developing new drugs that could potentially take over from ACTs (Artemisinin-based Combination Therapy) if and when they fail."

The WHO says that about $5.1 billion is needed to prevent and control malaria, but so far only half that much has been received.

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