Flash report : Malaria Kills 1.2 Million Annually

Approximately 1.2 million humans die each year from malaria, a much higher figure than the previously estimated 600,000, researchers from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington, Seattle, USA, reported in The Lancet this week.

However, the huge international anti-malaria effort that has taken place over the last ten years is paying off. Malaria mortality has significantly dropped.

The number of people who died annually from malaria between 1980 and 2010 rose from 1 million to 1.8 million in 2004, the authors wrote. The increase was caused by two factors:

• A rise in malaria death rates in the early 1980s and early 1990s
• A rise in populations in high malaria-risk areas

In 1980, approximately 377,000 children under 5 years of age in sub-Saharan Africa died of the disease - rising to over 1 million in 2004. In 2010 about 56% of all malaria deaths worldwide occurred in African children under 5; in that year 700,000 children in that age group in Africa died, a drop of about 350,000 compared to 2004.

Below is a breakdown of malaria deaths globally in last year:

• People aged 15-49 years - 20% of all deaths
• People aged 50-69 years - 9% of all deaths
• People aged 70+ years - 6% of all deaths
• In other words - adults (people aged 15+) account for over one third of all deaths

The researchers inform that in 2010, malaria death rates are highest in sub-Saharan Africa - especially central sub-Saharan Africa.

In the majority of cases, except for sub-Saharan Africa where malaria transmission is particularly high, adults accounted for about the same proportions of total deaths from malaria.

What is malaria?

Malaria means bad air, from the 18th century Italian words mala, aria. Medical historians say the term was first used by Dr. Francisco Torti, an Italian phyisician - at that time people believed the disease was caused by the foul air that existed in marshes.

The cycle of the Malaria parasite