Malaria Facts

Bad News

Malaria is a disease that is spread through the bite of an infected female anopheles mosquito.

Malaria is a global health crisis.  More than 40 percent of the world’s population is at risk.  

Every 30 seconds, a child dies from Malaria, 3,000 children every day die from Malaria.

Malaria is the leading killer of children in Africa.

Malaria claims up to 3 million lives each year in Africa

Malaria kills thousands more people than HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, Measles and Leprosy combined.

Each year, there are over 500 million clinical cases of malaria.

Malaria is estimated to cost Africa over $12 billion annually (and the world $40 billion annually) in health care and lost productivity (harvests remain on the fields, people cannot go to work, and children cannot go to school), making malaria a leading cause of poverty.

Malaria poses the most significant health threat to the population in Uganda (Ministry of Health, Uganda).

Good News

Malaria is a highly preventable and 100% treatable disease.

A bed net is the most cost efficient and effective way in which to prevent malaria (World Health Organization, 2005).

Long lasting insecticide treated bed nets (LLINs) offer a primary wall of defense, providing a protective barrier against mosquitoes at night. 

Treatment is effective and inexpensive.

Malaria is spread primarily at night while a child sleeps.

The eradication of malaria will help the advancement of six of the eight Millennium Development Goals in the areas of health, education and poverty by 2015.

Stop the bite, stop malaria.