Malaria
A preventable and treatable disease caused by Plasmodium parasites and spread by Anopheles mosquitoes; the great majority of cases and deaths occur in the WHO African Region.
How it spreads
Bites of night-biting Anopheles mosquitoes; not spread directly between people (rarely via transfusion or mother-to-child).
Common symptoms
Fever, headache and chills usually begin 10–15 days after the bite; early symptoms are hard to distinguish from other febrile illnesses.
When to seek care
Untreated P. falciparum malaria can become life-threatening within 24 hours: altered consciousness, seizures, breathing difficulty, jaundice, reduced or dark urine (acute kidney injury is a complication of severe malaria) — seek urgent care. Any fever within a year of returning from an endemic area should prompt mention of travel history.
Prevention & treatment
Bite prevention (nets, repellents, clothing) and destination-specific chemoprophylaxis prescribed by a clinician (some drugs need kidney-function adjustment); two malaria vaccines are in routine use for children in parts of Africa.
Unknowns & ongoing research
Spread of drug resistance (including partial artemisinin resistance) and insecticide resistance, and the effect of climate change on transmission range, are under ongoing surveillance.
Global disease data
Source: WHO Global Health Observatory (annual estimates or officially reported figures; global and WHO-region level). Estimates carry uncertainty intervals; reported counts reflect national surveillance capacity and are not the true number of infections.
Estimated malaria cases (with uncertainty interval)
Estimate (with uncertainty interval) · GHO MALARIA_EST_CASES · Estimated malaria cases (with uncertainty interval)
| WHO region | 2024 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Global | 281,741,573[256,000,000–313,000,000] | 272,878,620 |
| African Region | 264,778,661[238,000,000–296,000,000] | 255,747,705 |
| Region of the Americas | 663,364[597,000–739,000] | 572,303 |
| South-East Asia Region | 2,738,302[2,100,000–5,100,000] | 2,686,870 |
| European Region | 0 | 0 |
| Eastern Mediterranean Region | 11,113,511[8,700,000–14,500,000] | 11,616,626 |
| Western Pacific Region | 2,447,735[1,951,000–2,981,000] | 2,255,116 |
Data year: 2024 · Source updated: 2025-12-19
WHO GHO · MALARIA_EST_CASES · Last successful update on this site: 2026-11-07 01:10 UTC
Estimated malaria deaths (with uncertainty interval)
Estimate (with uncertainty interval) · GHO MALARIA_EST_DEATHS · Estimated malaria deaths (with uncertainty interval)
| WHO region | 2024 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Global | 609,930[561,000–738,000] | 598,446 |
| African Region | 578,766[531,000–706,000] | 567,342 |
| Region of the Americas | 504[340–743] | 332 |
| South-East Asia Region | 3,869[2,000–6,600] | 3,766 |
| European Region | 0 | 0 |
| Eastern Mediterranean Region | 22,066[12,900–35,200] | 22,767 |
| Western Pacific Region | 4,725[2,600–7,400] | 4,239 |
Data year: 2024 · Source updated: 2025-12-19
WHO GHO · MALARIA_EST_DEATHS · Last successful update on this site: 2026-11-09 01:10 UTC
Related WHO notices
WHO Disease Outbreak News · Last successful update on this site: 2026-11-12 01:10 UTC
No WHO notices retrieved yet (the scheduled update has not run or the source is temporarily unreachable).
Official sources & interactive data
- WHO fact sheet: Malaria · Source link checked: 2026-10-23
- WHO Disease Outbreak News
