Malaria is a preventable and treatable disease. Recent progress shows that together, we can put a stop to the unnecessary malaria deaths worldwide.

• Malaria is caused by Plasmodium parasites that spread to people through the bites of infected Anopheles mosquitoes
• Malaria is not contagious – it cannot be transmitted sexually or through casual contact
• Infected Anopheles mosquitoes primarily bite at night
• There are 109 malaria-endemic countries
• Half of the world’s population (3.3 billion people) are at risk from malaria
• Malaria infects approximately 250 million people each year
• 85% of African malaria deaths are children under 5 years old
• A child dies every 45 seconds from malaria in Africa
• Approximately 91% of the 781,000 global malaria deaths are in Africa
• It is estimated that up to 200,000 newborns die each year as a result of malaria
  during pregnancy
• Almost 2,000 people die from malaria every day in Africa
• Young children and pregnant women are the most vulnerable to malaria

(Sources: World Health Organization, UNICEF and Roll Back Malaria.)