7 Facts You Need to Know About World Malaria Day

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Young children rest under a mosquito bed net, trying to keep dry from a monsoon rain July 18, 2010 in Prey Mong kol village in Pailin province.

Image: Paula Bronstein/Getty Images

By Matt Petronzio2014-04-25 15:45:27 UTC

Friday marks World Malaria Day, an annual awareness campaign to shed light on the preventable and curable disease that still kills hundreds of thousands every year.

This year's World Malaria Day continues the theme "Invest in the future, defeat malaria," calling attention to the many efforts to end all malaria-related deaths by 2015.

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"We eliminated malaria in the U.S. in 1951, so thankfully malaria isn't something we have to think about every day," Martin Edlund, CEO of the non-profit Malaria No More, tells Mashable. "World Malaria Day is a moment to shout from the rooftops about the remarkable progress we’re making — including a 54% reduction in the rate of child deaths in Africa since 2000 — but also the fact that we have more work to do. A child still dies every minute from malaria, so we’ll keep shouting every World Malaria Day until we fix that."

This year, Malaria No More's #MalariaSUCKS campaign focuses on the fact that it costs only $1 to buy and deliver malaria treatment to a child in Africa. You can donate on the organization's site.

Also check out the UN Foundation's Nothing But Nets campaign, the Against Malaria Foundation and various other organizations through which you can help fight malaria.

1. Malaria efforts have saved approximately 3.3 million lives since 2000.

Worldwide efforts to treat and prevent malaria have reduced related mortality rates by 42% (49% in Africa). Edlund says this is one of the biggest public health success stories in a generation.

However, an estimated 3.4 billion people continue to be at risk of malaria — nearly half of the world's population.

Source: Reuters, World Health Organization

2. Malaria still killed an estimated 627,000 people in 2012.

Malaria is caused by parasites that are spread to people through the bites of infected Anopheles mosquitoes.

Source: World Health Organization

Image: Flickr, US Army Africa

3. 90% of malaria-related deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa.

In 2013, 97 countries had ongoing malaria transmission.

Source: World Health Organization

4. A child dies from malaria every 60 seconds.

That amounts to an estimated 1,300 children per day, or about 482,000 per year. Malaria is considered one of the top three killers of kids worldwide.

Source: World Health Organization

5. There were 207 million malaria cases in 2012.

Approximately 40% of the world’s population live in areas with malaria risk. Malaria is also both a cause and consequence of poverty.

Source: UNICEF

6. It costs only $1 to buy and deliver treatment for a child.

For an adult treatment dose, newer and more effective treatments (ACTs) cost between $2 and $2.50.

Source: Malaria No More,

7. Sleeping with proper netting can reduce child mortality by 20%.

Nets can also reduce illness in highly affected areas by 50%.

Source: UNICEF

BONUS: Fascinating Facts

Mosquitoes are seen inside a stock cage in a mosquito laboratory at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in London, Thursday, May 30, 2013. Researchers at the school have discovered that malaria-infected mosquitoes are more attracted to human odors.

Image: Sang Tan/Associated Press

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  The mosquito is often called "the most dangerous animal in the world."

  
  


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  British military officers in India created the gin and tonic to fight malaria (tonic contains quinine). However, tonic contains far too little quinine to be an effective treatment.

  
  


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  Malaria was first described in the ancient Chinese medical text Nei Ching, or The Canon of Medicine, dated 2700 B.C.

  
  


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  The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was originally founded in 1946 to prevent malaria from spreading across the nation.

  
  

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Topics: disease, malaria, Social Good, US & World, US & World, World, world malaria day