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World Malaria Day 2022

22 Apr 2022

Malaria is a severe but preventable and treatable disease. World Malaria Day occurs on 25 April each year to highlight the need for continued commitment to prevent and control malaria worldwide.

Malaria burden

Malaria is a parasite infection that is transmitted to people by the bite of female mosquitoes. It is widespread in many tropical and subtropical countries. According to the latest World Malaria Report, there were an estimated 241 million cases of malaria and 627,000 deaths from malaria worldwide in 2020. These figures have increased significantly since 2019.

Approximately two-thirds of the additional malaria deaths in 2020 were linked to disruptions in malaria prevention, diagnosis and treatment services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The World Health Organization (WHO) African region accounted for 95% of malaria cases and deaths in 2020. More than half of all malaria deaths worldwide occurred in the following 4 countries:

  • Nigeria (31.9%)
  • The Democratic Republic of the Congo (13.2%)
  • United Republic of Tanzania (4.1%)
  • Mozambique (3.8%)

Children under 5 years are the most vulnerable group affected by malaria; in 2020 two thirds of all malaria deaths were in children under 5 in sub-Saharan Africa.

Theme for 2022 World Malaria Day

The theme for 2022 is 'Harness innovation to reduce the malaria disease burden and save lives'

The purpose of this year’s campaign is to highlight that there is no single tool available to control malaria. It is therefore is calling for all countries to invest and consider new ways to control mosquitoes, diagnose malaria, produce new antimalarial medicines and develop other tools to speed up the pace of the end goal of eliminating malaria.

  • Additional information on the World Malaria Day 2022 campaign is available on the WHO website

Further information about malaria and how to prevent malaria can be found in our malaria pages.