Key Message from the WHO South Africa Country Representative Ms Shenaaz EL-Halabi

On this occasion of World Malaria Day, we join the global community in reaffirming our commitment to ending malaria. This year’s theme, “Malaria Ends With Us: Reinvest, Reimagine, Reignite” calls for renewed efforts at all levels from global policy to grassroots action to accelerate progress toward malaria elimination.

As WHO, we stand with the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership to End Malaria and other partners in promoting this campaign. Together, we aim to reinvest in solutions, reimagine our approaches, and reignite community-driven efforts to end malaria once and for all.

Since the global community recommitted to malaria control in the late 1990s, an estimated 2.2 billion cases and 12.7 million deaths have been prevented over the past two decades. However, after years of steady progress, efforts have now stalled. Today, malaria continues to claim one life every minute, with most deaths occurring in the WHO African Region.

The hard-won gains of recent decades are now at risk. Extreme weather events, conflict, humanitarian emergencies, and economic pressures are disrupting malaria control efforts in many endemic countries. As a result, tens of millions of people are left with limited access to the essential services they need to prevent, detect, and treat the disease. Without timely diagnosis and treatment, malaria can quickly progress to severe illness or death.

In Southern Africa, malaria cases are on the rise, according to the 2024 SADC Malaria Report (Southern African Development Community). While the region has made remarkable progress in malaria elimination efforts, significant challenges persist.

In 2023, approximately 82.8% of the population in the SADC region lived in malaria-endemic areas, experiencing varying levels of transmission intensity. The region recorded a 13% increase in malaria cases, with 76 million cases reported—the highest figure in the past five years, up from 66.8 million in 2022. The incidence rate stood at 185.96 per 1,000 people.

Notably, malaria-related deaths decreased from 42,867 in 2022 to 38,740 in 2023, reducing the mortality rate to 9.5 deaths per 100,000 people. However, children under five remain disproportionately affected, facing a threefold higher risk of infection and a sixfold higher risk of death compared to older age groups particularly in high-burden countries.

Southern African countries targeting malaria elimination including Botswana, Eswatini, Namibia, and South Africa face mounting hurdles. According to the 2024 SADC malaria report, achieving elimination in these countries is unlikely due to low coverage of key malaria interventions, largely driven by funding constraints. Recent malaria outbreaks in Botswana and Namibia have further hindered progress.

South Africa, however, has reported a decline in malaria cases in recent years and remains committed to its goal of eliminating malaria by 2028.

For all these reasons, now is the time to recommit to ending malaria. We have the knowledge, the life-saving tools, and the targeted approaches to prevent, test, and treat this disease effectively.

WHO-recommended interventions such as insecticide-treated nets, indoor residual spraying, seasonal malaria chemoprevention, malaria vaccines, and artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) must be prioritized and scaled up.

We must reinvest in these proven solutions, reimagine our strategies to tackle today’s challenges, and reignite our collective efforts by strengthening cross-border collaboration, building partnerships, and engaging communities to accelerate progress towards malaria elimination.

We know how to end malaria. The choice is clear: act now, or risk losing the ground we’ve gained. Ending malaria is more than a health goal; it is an investment in an equitable, safer, and more prosperous future for all nations.

On this World Malaria Day, let’s come together to Reinvest, Reimagine, and Reignite because Malaria Ends With Us.