World Malaria Report 2025: New tools saved a million lives from malaria last year but progress is under threat as drug resistance rises
WHO’s annual World malaria report notes that since 2000, 2.3 billion malaria cases and 14 million deaths have been averted worldwide – including 1 million lives saved in 2024 alone – and there has been continued movement towards global elimination goals, with 47 countries and one territory now officially certified as malaria-free by WHO.
Despite these gains, however, malaria remains a serious global health challenge, with an estimated 282 million cases and 610 000 deaths in 2024 – roughly 9 million more cases than the previous year. Progress in reducing the malaria deaths – a key target of the Global technical strategy for malaria 2016-2030 – remains far off track
The WHO African Region continues to bear the greatest burden, with 11 countries accounting for about two thirds of global cases and deaths. Progress in reducing the malaria mortality rate remains far off track. An estimated 95% of global malaria deaths were in the WHO African Region, with most occurring among children under 5.
The World malaria report shows that antimalarial drug resistance is growing and stands in the way of achieving malaria elimination. The report spotlights evidence on partial resistance to artemisinin derivatives, which became the backbone of malaria treatments after failures of chloroquine and sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine. Antimalarial drug resistance has now been confirmed or suspected in at least 8 countries in Africa, and there are potential signs of declining efficacy of the drugs that are combined with artemisinin.
WHO-recommended new tools, including new bed nets and vaccines, are increasingly being integrated into broader health systems. Since WHO approved the world’s first malaria vaccines in 2021, 24 countries have introduced the vaccines into their routine immunization programmes. Seasonal malaria chemoprevention has also been expanded and is now being implemented in 20 countries, reaching 54 million children in 2024, an increase from about 0.2 million in 2012.
“Without a strong pipeline of new tools — from diagnostics, vaccines, dual- insecticide nets to next-generation vector control — we risk losing ground against a disease that is claiming over half a million deaths every year. Investing today in malaria research means safeguarding the future of communities across Africa”, says Krystal Birungi, Research & Outreach Associate, Target Malaria, Uganda Virus Research Institute
