The Lancet, 22 March 2025

Mapping the malaria burden in the context of a global pandemic: progress, hiccups, and challenges

Every year, the global malaria community eagerly anticipates the publication by WHO of its updated World Malaria Report, the cornerstone reference on the epidemiology and burden of malaria worldwide. In its latest 2024 version, WHO estimated for the year 2023 a total of 263 million cases and 597 000 malaria deaths, confirming the increasing trend in total case numbers (an additional 11 million) documented in 2022, but with a similar number of deaths.

Importantly, malaria deaths disproportionately clustered (95%) in the WHO African region, with three-quarters of those deaths in young children.