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Fact Sheet

AFRICA MALARIA DAY 2002
FACTS AND FIGURES

• Malaria kills over one million people each year, about 3,000 a day: the majority of victims are children under five years of age.
  
• Malaria kills a child every 40 seconds.
  
• Over 700,000 children under five will die needlessly from malaria this year.
  
• At least 300 million people suffer from acute malaria each year.
  
• Nine out of 10 cases occur in Africa South of the Sahara.
  
• Malaria is continuing to spread in Africa.
  
• The cheapest anti-malaria drug – chloroquine – is rapidly losing its effectiveness in almost all endemic countries.
  
• Population movements, such as seasonal workers and refugees into malaria-endemic regions and countries, are causing major disease outbreaks and impacting on economies.
  
• Malaria is a major killer of refugees and displaced persons in Africa.
  
• Effective malaria control has already led to dramatic declines in malaria death rates in Asia.
  
• Prompt and effective treatment of suspected malaria fever cases can significantly reduce malaria death-rates even more if the treatment can be administered in the home.
  
• The wider use of insecticide-treated bednets may reduce episodes of illness by 50 per cent in areas of high transmission.
  
• The cost of malaria control and treatment drains Africa’s economies.
  
• Endemic countries have to use scarce hard currency on drugs, nets and insecticides.
  
• Africa’s GDP today would be up to 31 per cent greater if malaria had been eliminated 35 years ago, according to estimates from a Harvard study.
  
• Malaria-endemic countries are among the world’s most impoverished.
  
• Malaria causes death, reduces the productivity of agriculture, affects tourism and external investment.
  
• The spread of drug-resistant malaria is substantially raising the costs of treatment. Multi-national firms choosing the location of foreign investments shun regions with high malaria transmission rates.
  
• With acute malaria a child may die within 24 hours without prompt and effective treatment.
  
• In endemic countries, women are more likely to have malaria during pregnancy than at any other time. Pregnant women with malaria are more likely to develop anaemia, and with severe anaemia there is a higher risk of maternal death.
  
• Infants born to mothers with malaria are more likely to have low birth weight – the single greatest risk factor for death during the first month of life.

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For more information, contact:

Mohammad Jalloh, Communication Officer, UNICEF, New York. Tel. (212) 326 7516, mjalloh@unicef.org

Jo Bailey, Communication Officer, UNICEF, New York,
Tel. (212) 326-7566, jbailey@unicef.org